Lakers News: Glaring Roster Issue Following Patrick Beverly Trade
The Utah Jazz have confirmed in an official press release that the Lakers' deal to send fourth-year guard Talen Horton-Tucker and journeyman forward Stanley Johnson to Utah in exchange for point guard Patrick Beverley has been completed.
Beverley's addition to Los Angeles could irritate one current new teammate in particular, on and off the floor, as Sports Center rightfully pointed out.
The 6'1" Beverley, who started in the back court for the Minnesota Timberwolves alongside 6'4" guard D'Angelo Russell (set to be slotted in at the point again this year) during the 2021-22 NBA season, could conceivably fulfill a similar role in Los Angeles for the time being, starting next to 6'3" Russell Westbrook.
But he won't.
Or perhaps there could be an open competition for starting point guard honors in team training camp. Which, by the way, Beverley would win.
The duo have a long, storied history of beef, firing shots at each other on and off the court as recently as this season. It all stems from the moment Westbrook, then with the Oklahoma City Thunder, suffered a torn meniscus during a 2013 playoff game while being guarded by Beverley, then with the Houston Rockets. Not since perhaps some Bad Boys-era Detroit Pistons were poached to join the Chicago Bulls has there been a weirder matching of players with such established, deep-seeded enmity.
After Beverley realized he was a Laker today, he tweeted in support of Westbrook enjoying a bounce-back season in 2022-23. It was a generous gesture, but it appears quite possible that the pair won't be teammates for long, so their feud can thankfully resume soon.
Westbrook is no longer a great on-court fit with a lot of players, but he especially makes very little sense in any lineups alongside Beverley -- a better option at point guard at this point -- or James -- a far better ball-handler and creator. That doesn't leave a ton of minutes in which Westbrook would be effective. At least, not until Beverley gets hurt, as the 34-year-old has been wont to do in service of his particular brand of tenacious defense.
Lakers fans may be hoping to wish the oft-rumored deal of Westbrook and draft picks for Indiana Pacers veterans Myles Turner and Buddy Hield into existence. It would be quite the coup for L.A., and would be an astronomically better meshing of talent than a Westbrook-Beverley backcourt.
