The Los Angeles Lakers’ primary offseason objective at this point is finding a way to trade away Russell Westbrook.
Initially there was hope that it could be done in a Kyrie Irving swap. Then when that chatter died down, there was optimism that maybe something could happen with Buddy Hield and the Indiana Pacers.
Now, L.A. just wants to dump Westbrook on anyone. Addition by subtraction appears to be the name of the game.
This past week ESPN NBA insider Tim MacMahon appeared on the Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective podcast to weigh in on the odds of Westbrook ending up with the Dallas Mavericks.
“I’ve asked some executives ‘where could [Westbrook] possibly fit?’ And I’ve only got a couple of lukewarm answers and I’m not defending these answers, you can knock ’em right down and I’m not going to push back,” Windhorst began. “One of them, I’m told, is Dallas.”
Apparently, when MacMahon broached the topic with Mavericks insiders, he got a very definitive two-word response.
“So you guys told me that you’d heard that and I checked in, I got a very quick, ‘Hell no,'” MacMahon said.
So the Mavericks don’t want to trade for Westbrook. Fair enough. But what if he was just available as a free agent?
“Even then, I was told ‘Hell no,'” McMahon said.
Well, there you go.
The Lakers’ desire to rid themselves of the albatross that is Westbrook and his contract is totally understandable. Just this week, details of his troubling behavior at last season’s practices started to emerge.
When you couple that with the feuds with fans, issues with coaches and tiffs with his seemingly-patient teammates, you can simultaneously see why L.A. is so desperate to dump the former league MVP and why no one actually wants him.
Fortunately, change appears to be on the horizon.
As recently reported by ESPN NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski, a deal involving him is likely coming. Though it’s unclear whether it’ll be the Plan A deal or the Plan B deal – something seems to be brewing.
Now that’s how you celebrate a Super Bowl. https://t.co/glOvl6mQvC
— Game 7 (@game7__) July 24, 2022
Where will Westbrook ultimately be when the regular season rolls around?
Time will tell.
Related: 1 Roadblock In Way Of Lakers Trading For Eric Gordon, Buddy Hield
A graduate from the University of Texas, Anthony Amador has been credentialed to cover the Houston Texans, Dallas Cowboys, San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks and high school games all over the Lone Star State. Currently, his primary beats are the NBA, MLB, NFL and UFC.
