The end of the Westbrook era in Los Angeles has finally come. The Los Angeles Lakers have finally woken up and shipped out Russell Westbrook as they traded him to the Utah Jazz in a 3-team trade with the Timberwolves that saw D’Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley, and others moved around.
This trade deadline day has been wild, but I’ll start off with one of the earlier trades of the window: Russell Westbrook (from Lakers), the Lakers 2027 1st round pick (from Lakers), Damien Jones (from Lakers), Juan Toscano-Anderson (from Lakers) to the Utah Jazz for D’Angelo Russell (from Timberwolves), Malik Beasley (from Timberwolves), and Jared Vanderbilt (from Timberwolves), with Mike Conley (from Jazz), Nickeil Alexander-Walker (from Jazz), and three 2nd Round Picks (all from Jazz) going to the Timberwolves.
It’s no secret that Russell Westbrook in Los Angeles has been a match made in hell as the lakers are currently on pace to finish comfortably outside the playoffs during the two seasons Westbrook was involved with the team.
From his dreadful shooting problems, problematic turnover issues, his off court bust ups with the coaching staff (as we saw with Darwin Ham during LeBron’s record-breaking night), and his general decline from being a former MVP, Westbrook has been nothing but a headache for the Lakers ever since GM Rob Pelinka spent a 1st round pick, Kyle Kuzma, Montrezl Harrell, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to get him from the Wizards.
And, seeing how those pieces were instrumental in the Lakers 2020 title win the year before the Westbrook deal, this trade can only go down as one of the worst in NBA history, let alone Los Angeles Lakers history. Thus, to be able to get D’Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley, and Jared Vanderbilt from the Timberwolves in a 3-team deal involving the Lakers, Jazz, and Timberwolves for only Westbrook, a few bench players, and a 2027 1st round pick has to be seen as a major win for Pelinka and the Lakers.
At the very least, this trade may go down as similar to the Anthony Davis deal in terms of the positive playoff benefit for the Lakers.
Russell is a very good starting, traditional point guard in this league and has the ability to take over games (albeit sparingly), while Beasley is dangerous shooter on the wing and Vanderbilt is a solid defender. And, if you’ve watched just one Lakers game this season, these are two things they desperately needed.
I’m not sure that Russell, Beasley, and Vanderbilt will be good enough depth pieces and secondary scorers to drive the Lakers into the Top-4 playoff places in the West, but they can definitely support LeBron James and Anthony Davis in moving up to the 6th-8th seeds. Or, at the very least, a spot in the Play-In round as the Lakers aren’t even in that at this stage of the season with their 25-30 recorded and 13th seeding.
As for Russell Westbrook, this is the proverbial end the line.
He’s legit got one chance left to prove that he can still play at the NBA level with the next team he chooses as the Jazz are set to buy out his contract. It’s sad to see a former MVP and one of the Top-75 greatest NBA players members have their career fizzle out like this, but it’s Westbrook’s fault he never improved his shooting or distributing as he aged.
Unless you’re LeBron James, one can only rely on their freak athleticism for so long before it deserts you, which is exactly what has happened to Westbrook. He just can no longer fly to the rim as quick as he used to back in his OKC and Houston Rockets days, thus making him as a massive liability when he’s on the court as a starting point guard.
Supposedly, the lowly Rockets (15th in West; 13-42) are interested in bringing back Westbrook for the rest of the season, which is an obvious step back from the Lakers. But it’s a necessary one as Westbrook isn’t a guy who can lead his team to the playoffs anymore.
I just hope Westbrook can turn around his fortunes on a team with little expectations as no one wants to see a great player go out with a whimper.
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