The Lakers organization, from top to bottom, have been doing their best to try to change the narrative surrounding Russell Westbrook. Everyone and their mother knows the Lakers preference is to not have Westbrook on the roster next season, but doesn't want to sacrifice significant draft capital to make that dream a reality.
New head coach Darvin Ham has gone to great lengths to outline in multiple radio interviews how he's going to maximize Russell Westbrook next season.
Privately, the Lakers have rebuffed trade overtures from teams that involve Russell Westbrook and the franchise's 2027 and 2029 first-round picks.
However, it sounds like if the return is great enough, Los Angeles will ship out those ever-valuable first-round picks. In a recent episode of his The Void podcast, Ringer's Kevin O'Connor suggested that the Lakers have some level of interest in trying to acquire Wizards guard Bradley Beal.
“The one name that I’ve heard recently is Bradley Beal as another guy that they want. I’m not sure if the interest is as mutual. You know Beal, it seems like Miami would be more of the threat to take him away from Washington. I don’t think you can also rule out Boston either because of his relationship with Jayson Tatum, but the Lakers are trying to angle for some moves like that using the Russ expiring and the ’27 and the ’29 firsts.”
Beal was third-team All-NBA for the 2020-20201 season, but played just 40 games this past season and underwent season ending surgery on his left wrist.
The cost would be high, but Beal, a multi-time All-Star who can create his own shot and be an efficient three-point shooter, could be downright scary with Anthony Davis and LeBron James.
But as O'Connor notes, there's other teams who can offer better packages than the Lakers if Washington decides they don't want to sign Beal to a massive contract extension and also don't want to relive the Russell Westbrook experience.
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