Lakers: Columnist Thinks LA Might Have to Make Russell Westbrook-John Wall Trade
While the NBA's best are battling it out in the first round of the playoffs, the Lakers are staring down a daunting to-do list. First, they have to hire a new coach. Then, the front office, led by general manager Rob Pelinka and senior basketball adviser Kurt Rambis, must decide what to do with Russell Westbrook.
Westbrook's exit interview earlier this month suggested that the guard might not have had the full support of LeBron James and Anthony Davis during the season.
The Lakers disappointing season, coupled with a potential division between Westbrook, LeBron, and Anthony Davis, leads The Athletic's Marcus Thompson to believe that trading Russ for John Wall might be worth revisiting. Thompson explained his perspective in an appearance with Colin Cowherd on Volume Sports.
"If doesn't even sound harmonious. It doesn't sound reconcilable. But where are they gonna go? You're gonna get John Wall? This how bad it is, the answer is to go get John Wall. Who ain't played in two years, that's the answer."
For Thompson, didn't give a potential Westbrook-for-Wall deal a ringing endorsement. The author and columnist instead used it to exemplify the desperate situation the Lakers are in.
The Westbrook-for-Wall trade has been mentioned frequently over the last several months once it became more than apparent that Russ just wasn't a great fit alongside LeBron and AD.
According to ESPN's Ramona Shelbourne, the Lakers declined to make the trade at this year's deadline even though the Rockets might have agreed to the deal without LA including their 2027 first-round pick.
Sending Russ to Houston isn't the only trade rumor that's been circulating. The Charlotte Hornets and Indiana Pacers have also been mentioned as teams that could be possibly interested in taking on Westbrook's $47M expiring contract.
Bringing Wall into the fold might just be recycling the Lakers problem. It might also be one of LA's few remaining options.
