Russell Westbrook Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Pacific Notes: Powell, Lakers, Shamet, Wiseman

February 15th, 2022 at 4:03pm CST by Luke Adams

The current treatment plan for Clippers swingman Norman Powell, who broke a bone in his left foot last Thursday, is non-surgical, writes Mirjam Swanson of The Southern California News Group. Asked about a potential return timeline for Powell, head coach Tyronn Lue couldn’t offer any specifics, but expressed hope that the 28-year-old will be back before the end of the season.

“Hopefully,” Lue said. “I’m not really sure, but hopefully that’s the case.”

As Swanson writes, Powell – acquired in a trade with Portland earlier in the month – had only been a Clipper for three games before he went down with his foot injury. However, he had already established himself as an important part of the rotation, playing nearly 34 minutes in his last game on Thursday, so he’ll be missed. Additionally, the Clippers sacrificed some depth on the wing in their pre-deadline deals.

“It does leave a void, because now you lose Justise Winslow, Eric Bledsoe, who you traded him for, along with Keon Johnson,” Lue said. “… Since (Powell) was here, he gave us great downhill attacks, direct line, quick decisions, getting to the free-throw line and he scored the ball really easy. So we’re definitely gonna miss that.”

Here’s more from around the Pacific:

During an appearance on The Hoop Collective podcast with Brian Windhorst, ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne confirmed the Lakers would have had to incentivize the Rockets to swap John Wall for Russell Westbrook at the trade deadline, but suggested the cost wouldn’t necessarily have been a first-round pick, as had been previously reported. “The way I heard it was it could have been done for a first-round pick, but it was even suggested they could have done it for a pick swap,” Shelburne said, per RealGM. “… Let’s put it this way, they would have had to incentivize Houston to do the trade with some kind of draft compensation. I think it was even less than what people have assumed.”
Suns guard Landry Shamet, who has been sidelined since January 30 due to a right ankle injury, is being careful not to rush the recovery process and won’t return until sometime after the All-Star break, writes Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. “I’ve come back from ankle injuries a little too early in the past,” Shamet said on Monday. “With the aspirations this team has and what I have for myself, for us, I want to make sure I’m in the best place possible to be able to sustain for a long time.”
Warriors center James Wiseman was cleared to begin participating in 5-on-5 scrimmages, Anthony Slater of The Athletic tweets. Wiseman is working his way back from a pair of procedures on his right knee.

Lakers Notes: LeBron, Westbrook, AD, Vogel, Reaves

February 13th, 2022 at 3:05pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Lakers All-Star forward LeBron James has to live with the consequences of the disastrous Russell Westbrook trade he pushed his team’s front office to make, opines Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports. Goodwill writes that, whether James cooked up the Westbrook deal or merely advocated for it, his interest in the idea ultimately compelled Los Angeles team president Rob Pelinka to pull the trigger, and the team is now struggling to stay afloat, currently the ninth seed in the West.

After the team used many of its remaining assets to acquire Westbrook from the Wizards and opted not to re-sign stellar defensive guard Alex Caruso over the summer, it had its hands tied at the trade deadline this past Thursday, ultimately deciding to stand pat. Beyond the maximum salaries of James, the tough-to-trade Westbrook, and big man Anthony Davis, the Lakers had just two players, Talen Horton-Tucker and Kendrick Nunn, making more than the veteran’s minimum. Horton-Tucker has struggled in an expanded role, while the injured Nunn has yet to play a single game with L.A.

There’s more out of Lakerland:

Lakers star big man Anthony Davis discussed his sense of relief following the trade deadline, now that the team knows its personnel heading towards the end of the season. “[The deadline passing] lifted weight off the [team’s] shoulders,” Davis said, per Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated (Twitter link). “This is our team, let’s go.”
Following the Lakers’ inactive trade deadline, Los Angeles head coach Frank Vogel also expressed optimism for the home stretch of the 2021/22 season, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN. “It’s a new day,” Vogel said. “I think there’s just a natural reset energy to our group, knowing that the trade deadline has passed. This is the group that we put together to start the year. This is a group we believe in.” That group has led the Lakers, currently on a three-game losing streak, to a 26-31 record and the ninth seed in the Western Conference.
One of the lone bright spots in this disappointing Lakers season has been the play of rookie shooting guard Austin Reaves, who has emerged as a reliable bench contributor on both ends of the court. Reaves initially signed a two-way contract with the Lakers after going undrafted out of Oklahoma this summer, then saw that deal converted to a standard NBA contract before the start of the season. The 23-year-old has emerged as a clutch role player of late, as Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times details. “He’s got a great computer to process help and see whether if he’s going to shoot or whether he’s going to make the extra pass and obviously he’s got a lot of guts to make big shots,” Frank Vogel said. “And he really competes on the defensive end and has a good IQ down on that end.” LeBron James also raved about the youngster: “Nothing has impressed me anymore on Austin. He’s made big plays over and over offensively and defensively.” In 21.1 MPG, Reaves is averaging 6.1 PPG, 2.6 RPG and 1.3 APG, and has supplanted veterans like Wayne Ellington and Kent Bazemore in L.A.’s perimeter rotation.

Lakers Rumors: Westbrook, Hield, LeBron, Davis, Pelinka, Jordan

February 11th, 2022 at 3:17pm CST by Luke Adams

Last summer, the Lakers appeared to be on the verge of a deal with the Kings for Buddy Hield before pivoting and acquiring Russell Westbrook from Washington. Westbrook’s stint in Los Angeles hasn’t worked out like the Lakers have hoped, which apparently prompted the team to see if it could get a do-over of sorts on that offseason decision.

According to Sam Amick of The Athletic, sources say that one Westbrook trade idea the Lakers discussed earlier in the season would’ve involved Hield coming to Los Angeles. Obviously, that idea didn’t get off the ground — Westbrook ultimately remained in L.A. through the deadline, while Hield was sent to Indiana in a six-player blockbuster.

Here’s more on the Lakers:

As we relayed on Thursday, Lakers VP of basketball operations Rob Pelinka said he had conversations with LeBron James and Anthony Davis leading up to the trade deadline, suggesting there was “alignment” with the stars on the team’s decision to stand pat. However, a source familiar with James’ and Davis’ thinking who spoke to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin disputed that characterization. “Totally false,” that source told McMenamin (video link; hat tip to RealGM). “There was no conversation between Rob Pelinka, LeBron James and Anthony Davis on Thursday. There was no go-ahead of an OK to have inaction at the deadline.”
In a column on the Lakers’ trade deadline activity, Bill Oram of The Athletic suggests that rival teams may be leery of engaging in discussions with Pelinka due to his decision to pull out of what the Kings viewed as a trade agreement for Hield last summer.
As the Lakers peruse the buyout market in search of a player who could improve their roster, center DeAndre Jordan appears to be the most likely candidate to be waived, says Jovan Buha of The Athletic. Jordan is out of the team’s regular rotation and isn’t a fit with the Lakers’ “small-ball ethos,” Buha explains.

Leftover Deadline Rumors: Raptors, Rockets, Lakers, Nuggets, Knicks

February 11th, 2022 at 9:07am CST by Luke Adams

The Raptors considered a series of potential trade scenarios before they agreed to send Goran Dragic and a draft pick to San Antonio for Thaddeus Young, writes Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca.

According to Grange, Toronto had hoped the Hawks would make Bogdan Bogdanovic available, viewing the veteran wing as someone who could help the team in both the short- and long-term. However, Atlanta didn’t budge on Bogdanovic, forcing the Raptors to look elsewhere.

The Raptors inquired on Pistons forward Jerami Grant and Kings forward Harrison Barnes, sources tell Grange, but the price tags for those players were high. As previously reported, there were also discussions about a three-team deal that would’ve sent Talen Horton-Tucker and Nerlens Noel to Toronto, but Grange suggests those talks never gained serious traction.

Here are a few more leftover rumors on trades that didn’t get made on deadline day:

The Rockets never made real progress on a John Wall trade with the Lakers, who were unwilling to attach a first-round pick to Russell Westbrook, but a few days before the deadline, Houston got much closer to moving Wall to another team, a source tells Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. That proposed deal ultimately fell through, per Feigen, who doesn’t specify which team the Rockets were talking to.
During a TV appearance, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst (video link) said one concept that “could have been discussed” by the Rockets and Lakers before the deadline, “depending on who you believe,” was a swap of Westbrook, Horton-Tucker, and draft capital for Wall and Christian Wood. It doesn’t sound like those talks, if they even occurred, advanced at all.
After agreeing to acquire center Jalen Smith from Phoenix, the Pacers explored flipping him to a new team, according to Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report (Twitter link). Fischer says the Nuggets were among the clubs in the mix for Smith, but Indiana didn’t find a deal it liked and ended up hanging onto the third-year big man.
The Knicks didn’t make a deal on deadline day, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. Sources tell Steve Popper of Newsday that the club was willing to move just about anyone on its roster, but had trouble finding trade partners for many of its top trade candidates, including Kemba Walker and Noel. According to Popper, his sources suggested there was a “universal lack of interest in the Knicks’ talent and contracts.”

Lakers Sought Trades With Knicks, Raptors, Celtics

February 10th, 2022 at 10:55pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Rival executives tried to take advantage of the Lakers’ predicament, which ultimately led to VP of basketball operations Rob Pelinka standing pat at the trade deadline, according to The Athletic’s Bill Oram.

Other teams wanted the Lakers to take on bad contracts or give up their limited draft capital, including their 2027 first round pick, to facilitate potential deals, according to Oram.

The Lakers were unable to gain any traction on a potential Russell Westbrook deal. They tried to put together some lower-level deals, including a proposed three-way trade with the Knicks and Raptors. Toronto big men Khem Birch and Chris Boucher and Knicks wing Cam Reddish could have been on the move, but those fell apart after the other two teams couldn’t agree on draft compensation.

The Lakers also mulled a possible reunion with Dennis Schröder, though there was some pushback from some members of the organization. The Lakers still pursued a deal with the Celtics but Boston’s high asking price ended those negotiations. The Celtics wound up trading Schröder to Houston.

LeBron James and Anthony Davis were consulted on potential trades and understood why Pelinka chose to stand pat, according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin.

“You can’t force another team to present yourself with a deal that is going to make your team be better. That’s up to them,” Pelinka said. “And throughout this process we had different things we looked at and like I’ve done in the past had conversations with LeBron and Anthony about it and I would say there’s alignment here. And that’s all that matters.”

The Lakers will monitor the buyout market but would have to waive a player since their roster is full.

Lakers Unlikely To Trade Westbrook, Targeting Role Players

February 10th, 2022 at 10:11am CST by Luke Adams

The Lakers are unlikely to make a trade involving Russell Westbrook today and are focusing more on smaller deals involving “fringe starters,” ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski said during an appearance on Get Up this morning (video link).

A Lakers team source previously told Dave McMenamin of ESPN (video link) that he would like to see the club “rip the bandaid off” by moving Westbrook, but doing so will be extremely difficult.

“With $47 million due to him next season, there’s just not a marketplace to do that,” Wojnarowksi said, referring to Westbrook’s pricey player option for 2022/23 that no team will want to take on. “The Lakers have shown a real reluctance to incentivize a deal, meaning add draft picks to it. They have picks that are still going out in other deals. At what point do you stop just completely mortgaging your future for deals that probably don’t result in all of a sudden you having a championship contender? And now you’ve just dug yourself a deeper hole.”

As Wojnarowski points out, the Lakers’ problems run deeper than just Westbrook. The former MVP didn’t play on Wednesday due to back tightness and L.A. still lost to a retooling Portland team missing several players. Rather than trying to trade Westbrook, the Lakers are exploring the market for ways to improve the roster around him, says Wojnarowski.

“Right now, the deals the Lakers are really looking at, they’re around the fringes,” Woj said. “Players like Alec Burks in New York, Dennis Schröder in Boston. Any number of role players, of fringe starters, that they might be able to cobble together the assets to get. But the idea of a Westbrook trade? Listen, nothing’s impossible, but I think it’s highly unlikely.”

An earlier report stated that the Lakers, Knicks, and Raptors had discussed the framework of a three-team trade that would involve Burks. However, Ian Begley of SNY.tv (Twitter link) hears from one party with interest in the situation that those talks were stalled as of Thursday morning.

Schröder, of course, was formerly a Laker before leaving as a free agent during the 2021 offseason to sign with the Celtics. Bill Oram of The Athletic reported earlier this week that Schröder had some interest in returning to Los Angeles as Westbrook’s backup last summer, but the team brought in Kendrick Nunn to fill that role instead. Nunn has yet to make his Lakers debut due to a knee injury.

Stein’s Latest: Lillard, Wall, Westbrook, Mavs, Turner, Harden, Simmons

February 10th, 2022 at 7:33am CST by Luke Adams

The Trail Blazers‘ roster makeover this week has prompted multiple teams to place a call to Portland’s front office in an effort to engage in trade talks involving Damian Lillard, according to Marc Stein at Substack. However, Stein hears that those inquiries have been “swiftly rebuffed” by the Blazers.

Reporting following the CJ McCollum trade this week indicated that Portland’s plan is to reshape its roster around Lillard, and the star point guard still sounds committed to sticking it out with the Blazers. As Stein writes, there’s a growing expectation from the outside that Lillard probably won’t return from his abdominal surgery this season, with the Blazers seemingly shifting their short-term focus from playoff contention to draft positioning.

Here’s more from Stein:

A source close to the situation tells Stein that the Rockets remain unwilling to consider a John Wall/Russell Westbrook swap unless the Lakers are willing to put their 2027 first-round pick in a deal. There has still been no indication that Los Angeles is open to that concept, says Stein.
The Mavericks made a run at Caris LeVert before the Pacers traded him to Cleveland, but were unable to make a deal, according to Stein, who notes that the Cavaliers were able to offer better assets than Dallas. A Mavs offer may have required Indiana to take the long-term contract of injured swingman Tim Hardaway Jr., Stein writes.
Although a trade of Myles Turner hasn’t been entirely ruled out, the big man is widely expected to remain with the Pacers through the deadline, per Stein.
Stein says his best read of the James Harden/Ben Simmons situation is that there’s a price point at which the Nets would be willing to make a deal today, but it would be “steep” and it’s unclear if the Sixers have the appetite to meet it.

Trade Rumors: Harden, Westbrook, Nuggets, Raptors

February 9th, 2022 at 11:44pm CST by Rory Maher

On NBA Countdown on Wednesday evening (hat tip to RealGM), ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski continued to relay that the Nets and Sixers aren’t involved in meaningful discussions involving James Harden.

“Let’s start here: we are certainly less than 24 hours from the NBA trade deadline,” said Wojnarowski. “There has not been meaningful dialogue between the 76ers and the Brooklyn Nets. Now that doesn’t mean it won’t happen between now and tomorrow’s trade deadline. But any potential James Harden trade to Philadelphia or anywhere, it would take a significant amount of negotiation. It’s not as simple as just Ben Simmons for James Harden.”

Woj went on to say the Nets still believe they can win a title when healthy no matter what seed they enter the playoffs as. He also said that the Nets are prepared for Harden to leave this summer, but still think he gives them the best chance of winning a title this season.

“I think Brooklyn is prepared for the idea that they’ll just treat James Harden, if his plans are to leave, treat it like Toronto did Kawhi Leonard. And say ‘this is probably a one shot deal. We want to win a championship. Our best chance is to do that.’ Who knows what happens when Harden gets back with Kevin Durant. They start playing together again the way they had planned to from the beginning. They’ve been separated because of the injuries.”

Here’s are some more trade rumors from around the NBA:

Russell Westbrook is unlikely to be traded by the deadline, sources tell Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report. The one exception to that would be if LeBron James pushes the Lakers to deal Westbrook to the Rockets for John Wall, but Los Angeles would have to give up additional assets or take on unwanted salary, making it doubtful, says Pincus.
The Nuggets are on the hunt for a wing defender and are willing to discuss their 2027 first-round pick, according to Mike Singer of The Denver Post. Sources tell Singer that Denver is searching for a non-rental player, so they’d need to be under contract for multiple seasons. The trouble the Nuggets are running into is being able to match salaries, considering JaMychal Green would likely need to be involved — Green can veto any trade and is only interested in playing for a contender.
The Raptors aren’t willing to compromise future flexibility for a short-term solution, and are only willing to take on money beyond 2022/23 in a trade if the player fits well with the team, as Michael Grange of Sportsnet relays (Twitter link).

Frustration Mounting Between Lakers, Russell Westbrook

February 9th, 2022 at 5:37pm CST by Rory Maher

As we discussed earlier today, the Lakers are feeling urgency to make moves to get their season back on track. One major factor in that urgency has been the poor fit of Russell Westbrook, and there’s a growing sense of frustration between the player and team, writes Jovan Buha of The Athletic.

Westbrook has been abysmal through four games in February, averaging 10.3 points, 7.5 rebounds, 7.0 assists, and 3.5 turnovers on .275/.154/.550 shooting in 31.1 minutes per contest. As Buha details, Westbrook was benched not just for the last few minutes, but for the final 14:34 of the 131-116 loss to Milwaukee Tuesday, showing L.A.’s decaying confidence in the guard.

Head coach Frank Vogel couldn’t pinpoint why Westbrook has struggled so much of late, but said the trio of Westbrook, LeBron James and Anthony Davis hasn’t meshed well in the limited games they’ve played together.

“It’s tough to say,” Vogel said. “He wasn’t that bad. The group that was making a run, we just left them in there in the fourth, aside from bringing Bron back. Had a tough night the other night, and a tough night shooting the ball tonight, but I thought he was competing. And the lineups have changed. He’s playing without AD one time on the road, and without AD and Bron, and without Bron, he’s got the ball a lot more, and it’s easier to get in a rhythm. And that’s how he’s played.

“But all those three guys are out there at the same time, it’s different. There’s less touches, and everybody’s out there sharing. So maybe tougher to get into a rhythm, but that’s one of the things we’re working through.”

For his part, Westbrook believes the team’s inconsistency is due to Vogel’s constantly fluctuating lineups, per Buha.

“It’s difficult,” Westbrook said. “You never know when you’re coming in. You never know when you’re coming out. You never know when you’re playing. You never know a bunch of things. And I’m speaking for me personally. It’s a difficult process to be able to figure out and (create) a rhythm, (create) some consistency where we can actually see what we’re able to do as a team. But those decisions are made by him (Vogel) and this coaching staff, and you’ve gotta live with it and move on.”

Westbrook tried to offer to support to Davis and James in the closing seconds of the dispiriting loss, a gesture that didn’t appear to go over very well, although that could have been poor timing rather than ill-will. Still, it was a telling moment of potential dissatisfaction with how the gamble to acquire Westbrook has played out, Buha opines.

The Lakers are unlikely to find any takers for Westbrook at the trade deadline, which could increase the tension and awkwardness between the two sides, according to Buha.

At 26-29, the Lakers are currently the No. 9 seed in the West.

Lakers Feeling Urgency To Make Deadline Move

February 9th, 2022 at 7:39am CST by Luke Adams

The Lakers are feeling urgency to make a move prior to the trade deadline to try to get their season back on track, writes Dave McMenamin of ESPN.

According to McMenamin, the team’s latest loss – to the defending champion Bucks – on Tuesday, led to the “uneasy admission” in the locker room that the current roster just isn’t working. Sources tell ESPN that standing pat at the deadline and hoping for the best isn’t viewed as a viable option by Lakers players.

After the game, star forward LeBron James acknowledged that there’s a significant gap between the Lakers and a serious title contender like Milwaukee.

“It tells me we ain’t on their level,” James said, per McMenamin. “I mean, I could have told you that before the game. … Obviously you always kind of use games to see where you are at that moment. But we know where we are at this moment: sitting at a couple, few games under .500. Haven’t played the basketball that we’d like to play.”

As Bill Oram of The Athletic writes, James offered a clear answer when asked if he thought the current roster was capable of reaching the Bucks’ level: “Do I think we can reach the level where Milwaukee is right now? Um, no. Is that what you wanted to hear? No.”

While the Lakers may feel more compelled than ever to shake up their roster at the deadline, their ability to do so will be limited due to their lack of valuable trade chips.

Here’s more on the Lakers:

For the third time this season, Russell Westbrook was benched during crunch-time minutes on Tuesday. Asked after the game about what he had to do to earn a consistent spot in L.A.’s closing lineups, Westbrook rejected the premise of the question, per McMenamin. “I shouldn’t have to hit any benchmark, to be honest,” Westbrook said. “I’ve put a lot of work and I’ve got a lot of respect in this game. I don’t got to hit a benchmark, or I shouldn’t have to. I’ve earned a right to be in closing lineups.”
One Lakers staffer who had reservations about the Westbrook trade when the team made the deal in the offseason told Oram, “I didn’t think it would be this bad.”
Lakers head coach Frank Vogel said on Tuesday that the team remains hopeful Kendrick Nunn will be able to play this season, but acknowledged that the point guard is unlikely to suit up until at least March, per Kyle Goon of the Southern California News Group. Nunn, who is considered one of L.A.’s only trade chips, hasn’t played at all this season due to a right knee injury.