Lakers: NBA Insider Explores LA Giving Russell Westbrook the Luol Deng Treatment
This isn't the first time in recent memory where the Lakers have had instant buyer's remorse on a high priced NBA veteran. Back in 2016, then general manager Mitch Kupchak signed Luol Deng to a four-year, $72M deal.
The deal was a disaster. Deng's best basketball was behind him, the contract was an albatross. The Lakers elected to waive and stretch Deng's contract in 2018 to lessen the impact on their salary cap. They could take a similar approach with Russell Westbrook this summer.
Earlier this year, it was reported that Westbrook expressed interest in playing elsewhere next season. To make that happen, waiving and using the stretch provision is one possible avenue the Lakers could explore.
Bleacher Reports Eric Pincus laid out what that would look like. Pincus also explained how Deng could play a small role in the Lakers decision.
"In theory, the Lakers could look to waive and stretch Westbrook's remaining salary post-buyout over three seasons ($12.3-$14.7 million a year). However, the franchise is finally getting out of the $5.0 million a year it has paid to Luol Deng since waiving him in 2018."
It's not an ideal scenario, but neither is peddling a 33-year-old guard owed upwards of $47M next year. If the Lakers are dead set on getting rid of Westbrook, they would likely have to grease the wheels with one, if not both, of their future first-round picks (2027 and 2029). That's a high cost to doing business.
Option three, which is about as likely as majority owner Jeanie Buss selling the team this summer, is the Lakers waiving Westbrook and eating the $47M this year. It would be the shotgun-approach instead of the more longer term waive-and-stretch option.
But, at that point, isn't it worth keeping Westbrook? He still has value, just not $47M worth of value. It's also hard to believe that LeBron would sign off on the Lakers wasting a third of their salary cap just to get Russ out of town.
The Lakers have a big offseason ahead of them after one of the most disastrous seasons in franchise history. Figuring out what to do with Westbrook will be priority number one.
