Lakers News: L.A. Trading Youth For Patrick Beverley
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Well, it finally happened: your Los Angeles Lakers have traded an overpaid, underperforming player who has proved to be an awkward fit alongside their marquee stars!
No, not that one. Not yet, anyway.
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reports that L.A. is set to deal away the $10.3 million contract of swingman Talen Horton-Tucker, plus the minimum salary of forward Stanley Johnson, to the Utah Jazz for the services of veteran two-way point guard Patrick Beverley. Woj notes that the clubs are set to conclude the transaction Thursday morning. Woj adds (Twitter link) that the trade will not include any draft pick compensation.
Shams Charania and Tony Jones of The Athletic also reported that a trade is imminent. Earlier this week, Charania hinted that the Lakers would be interested in trying to add Beverley or another valuable Jazz vet, Bojan Bogdanovic.
Russell Westbrook's longtime nemesis is about to become his teammate -- but for how long?
A deal for a well-compensated 3-and-D point guard seems to suggest that the Lakers are at least preparing to replace their embattled 2021-22 starter at that position.
Beverley is set to earn $13 million in the final season of his current contract, still just a fraction of the $47.1 million Westbrook will make this year -- and Beverley's the better player!
A below-average shooter and defender, Westbrook's deficiencies on both sides of the ball, plus a lack of depth (much of which was offloaded by the Lakers to Washington in order to acquire Westbrook in the first place), combined to yield one of the most disappointing seasons in team history. Lengthy injuries to LeBron James and Anthony Davis sure didn't help, either.
The Lakers went 33-49 during Westbrook's first (and quite possibly last) season with his hometown team in 2021-22. That record was so bad that Los Angeles even missed the tenth seed in the West, and with it an opportunity to compete in the NBA's play-in tournament.
With the Brooklyn Nets (for now) seemingly re-committed to flaky-but-still-talented lead guard Kyrie Irving, it appears that the Lakers could be ready to move on in their pursuit of Westbrook deals. Adding a competent, experienced point guard in Beverley addresses a huge need for the Lakers, and frees up team president Rob Pelinka to look beyond positional need in any future hypothetical Brodie trade. Should Pelinka not find a deal he loves in time, Beverley at present is a better fit for this Lakers roster than Westbrook, and would make more sense as a starter should the latter player remain on the team into the beginning of the season.
Playing in his tenth NBA season last year, Beverley started for the seventh-seeded Minnesota Timberwolves during a hard-fought six-game first-round loss to the Memphis Grizzlies in the 2022 playoffs.
In 58 regular season contests with Minnesota last season, the 6'1" Beverley averaged 9.2 points, 4.6 assists, 4.1 rebounds, 1.2 steals and 0.9 blocks a night. Though his 40.6% field goal conversion rate was a bit low, he shot a respectable 34.3% from three-point land on 4.2 attempts, and 72.2% from the charity stripe. Unlike Westbrook, Beverley generates plenty of his offense off the ball. A career 37.8% shooter from long range on volume, and a committed defender (more on that in a minute), the self-proclaimed "Mr. 94 Feet" is still a massive upgrade over this iteration of Westbrook in all facets, save consistent health and athleticism. And at just a fraction of the price!
Per ESPN, Beverley has limited players he's guarding to just 41.9% shooting, the second-best such rate for players guarding 2,000 field goal attempts or more. He can also readily guard both back court positions. After his lone season with the Timberwolves, the 34-year-old out of the University of Arkansas was dealt to the Jazz as part of the blockbuster trade that sent Rudy Gobert to Minnesota.
Defensive ace Alex Caruso, a crucial part of L.A.'s 2020 title team, was infamously passed over in 2021 free agency in favor of the unproven, high-upside THT, then still just 20. Los Angeles opted to let Caruso leave for Chicago rather than match his new (quite reasonable) four-year, $37 million salary. Though the hard-scrabble combo guard battled a myriad of injury issues, when healthy for the Bulls he was one of the league's better perimeter defenders, while shooting a decent 33.3% from deep. Horton-Tucker, by contrast, failed to take off during a year when he absolutely needed to for L.A. He was consistently inconsistent for the Lakers on offense, and, though he possessed the physical tools to be a good defender, failed to develop on that end as well.
Jazz team president Danny Ainge, formerly a thorn in the Lakers' sides both on the court and later in the front office with the Boston Celtics, must be excited for the ceiling of Horton-Tucker, who seems likely to pick up his $11 million player option next year. As Johan Buva of The Athletic tweets, this will open up the Lakers' salary space next summer, with L.A. now set to be approximately $34 million below the projected salary cap threshold. Obviously that all could change depending on the long-term money Los Angeles takes back in a Westbrook deal.
Johnson emerged as a surprisingly-important midseason addition to the Lakers last year. After inking three 10-day deals with the team, the 6'6" former lottery pick out of the University of Arizona signed a two-year minimum deal to stay in L.A. His ability to frenetically defend both forward spots endeared himself to a very old Lakers team desperate for energy on that end of the floor. Ultimately, this year's Lakers roster features plenty of Johnson-esque players (switchy defenders who can guard the three and four), making the 26-year-old expendable as a throw-in to match salaries.
It remains to be seen now what team president Rob Pelinka opts to do when it comes to moving on from Westbrook. Aside from a possible swap with the Nets for Irving, the other most-discussed deal this summer has been a trade of the 2017 MVP and up to two first-round draft picks for two veteran Pacers, 3-and-D big man Myles Turner and sharpshooting wing Buddy Hield. The Lakers apparently have other potential landing spots in mind for Westbrook, but this reporter considers Turner and Hield excellent fits for L.A.'s roster, Hield's defensive issues notwithstanding.
If the Lakers can open training camp with a hypothetical starting five of Beverley, Hield, James, Davis and Turner -- plus intriguing reserves like Juan Toscano-Anderson, Lonnie Walker IV, Thomas Bryant, Austin Reaves, and Kendrick Nunn -- their short-term future would suddenly look a whole lot brighter. Our fingers are crossed.
