Your Los Angeles Lakers find themselves on the cusp of starting 0-5 for the first time since the 2014-15 season, when L.A. eventually finished well short of the playoffs with a 21-61 overall record.
What's the best way to expedite some internal improvement? By trading Russell Westbrook's egregious expiring $47.1 million contract, of course! And what are the two biggest areas of need on this L.A. roster? Shooting and wing defense!
L.A. is currently a historically bad high-volume three-point shooting team. Given its personnel, this is not exactly a surprise, although even the club's "better" three-point shooters not named Matt Ryan (who's connecting on 50% of his 2.7 looks a night) or Austin Reaves (making 40% of his 2.5 attempts) have underperformed this year. Patrick Beverley, a career 37.6% three-point shooter on 5.5 attempts, is connecting on just 18.8% of his five long range looks per game this year (and a brutal 21.1% overall from the floor). LeBron James, a career 34.5% three-point shooter on 4.5 tries a night, is making just 25.7% of his 8.8 triple attempts a game. Kendrick Nunn, who for his career has made 36.1% of 5.7 three-point tries per contest, is connecting on a mere 23.5% of his 4.3 heaves from beyond the arc.
With Troy Brown Jr. sitting, Darvin Ham was so bereft of high-caliber wing defense in the Lakers' ill-fated Clippers game last week that he opted to have Russell Westbrook and Patrick Beverley defend Clippers stars Kawhi Leonard and Paul George! Better wings are much-needed, but shooting is clearly the team's top priority.
Lakers 248's Doug McKain takes us through five of the rumored trade packages for Russell Westbrook that could get some shooting (and, in some cases, defense) onto this roster posthaste!
"So it's time fo the Lakers to trade Russell Westbrook," McKain says. "They need to rip that band-aid off. They need to find a way to get some more support around Anthony Davis and LeBron James."
McKain talks us through five of the most appetizing potential Brodie trades available for Los Angeles -- deals that could help L.A. land former All-Stars like Brooklyn Nets point guard Kyrie Irving and Charlotte Hornets forward Gordon Hayward, and/or some stellar role players via Charlotte, the San Antonio Spurs, the Indiana Pacers, and the Utah Jazz.
Why would any of these clubs trade for Russell Westbrook, who's been so bad he may have more value to L.A. when he doesn't play for the team than he could when he does? The Lakers have two first-round draft picks they could send out in any deal, in 2027 and 2029, that could wind up high in the lottery, if the team's current troubles are any indication of where they could be by then.
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