Lakers News: The Utah Jazz Trade The Ringer Thinks L.A. Needs To Make
Your Los Angeles Lakers will have another chance to nab their first win of the young season tonight against the Minnesota Timberwolves tonight at 5 p.m. PT.
With the status of Russell Westbrook up in the air due to his recurrent sore left hamstring, every Lakers fan from Pacoima to Pasadena is wondering... should he come back? Granted, Los Angeles failed to capitalize on Brodie's absence Wednesday, during a 110-99 loss to the Denver Nuggets wherein head coach Darvin Ham opted to trot out a starting five of Patrick Beverley, Lonnie Walker IV, Austin Reaves, LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
Read those names around James and Davis again. That (and the team's current backup five of Kendrick Nunn, Troy Brown Jr., Juan Toscano-Anderson, and... Matt Ryan) is why L.A. is losing games. Yes, Dennis Schröder, Thomas Bryant and Cole Swider are hurt, but if you're counting on any of those players to make a huge impact, again, you're in trouble.
Everyone knows Los Angeles wants to trade away Russell Westbrook, but is somewhat reticent to include both the draft picks that can be dealt away: its 2027 and 2029 first-rounders.
In the latest episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast, The Ringer's Bill Simmons and Rob Mahoney spoke at length about the trade L.A. should explore for its $47.1 million man:
"Now they're 0-4. Westbrook had a mysterious hamstring injury yesterday and the whole league is circling them like sharks, thinking those two '27 [and] '29 picks are available. It could go a variety of ways. I still feel like Utah is the team for Westbrook because I think Utah needs to basically chop its own foot off. It's like, 'Wait, we're one of the people winning the marathon? I need to mutilate myself in some way so this doesn't happen!' You know they have [Jordan] Clarkson, they have [Mike] Conley, they have Kelly Olynyk."
"If I'm giving up those picks, give me dudes that can actually help. My thing is... whatever they get for Westbrook and those two picks, it's still not going to make an impact... You're taking back things from other teams that I'm not sure you're even fired up about... The thing with Westbrook, you have to trade for him soon because you want to be able to re-flip him... I honestly think they're completely screwed [whatever they do]."
A deal that would send the contracts of Conley, Clarkson and Olynyk (totaling $48.2 million) to Los Angeles in exchange for Westbrook and both future picks would add nine wins to L.A.'s projected record, per ESPN's Trade Machine. This writer posits that trading away Jazz MVP Lauri Markkanen is still the best deal Los Angeles could make with Utah, but no matter. Adding Conley, Clarkson and Olynyk gives you ball-handling and shooting in the backcourt, plus a high-quality second big to pair with Anthony Davis. AD could even return to playing his preferred position of power forward! Los Angeles would still need to figure out its wing defense problem, perhaps that could be achieved with a Lonnie Walker trade in December, when free agents signed in the offseason become trade-eligible?
