Russ to the Lakers rumors getting toasty warm!?

[rustywest]

Not a Laker fan at all, and have found myself rooting against them almost all the time when they reach the NBA Finals.. vs the Nets, Magic, Celtics, Pistons etc... You hear stuff about them as currently constructed being 'toxic'...

Westbrook fans... how do you feel about him potentially joining the Lakers? I'm shook on this prospect right now, but if it materialized I'd have no choice but to jump onboard! I'm not a Lebron hater by any stretch but I'm not exactly a raging fan of his either... I'm not thrilled about ring chasing and don't particularly enjoy seeing Russ cycled through so many teams at this point in his career. As a Rusty fan, I just got used to his team-mates in DC and would be more than happy to see him stick with them...

BUT... its a big ol but - Old man LeBron, Westbrook and AD? That's an intriguing starter trio son Given, they would need some serious soldiers to help carry that reg season grind.

[daeve]

Originally Posted by rustywest

Not a Laker fan at all, and have found myself rooting against them almost all the time when they reach the NBA Finals.. vs the Nets, Magic, Celtics, Pistons etc... You hear stuff about them as currently constructed being 'toxic'...

Westbrook fans... how do you feel about him potentially joining the Lakers? I'm shook on this prospect right now, but if it materialized I'd have no choice but to jump onboard! I'm not a Lebron hater by any stretch but I'm not exactly a raging fan of his either... I'm not thrilled about ring chasing and don't particularly enjoy seeing Russ cycled through so many teams at this point in his career. As a Rusty fan, I just got used to his team-mates in DC and would be more than happy to see him stick with them...

BUT... its a big ol but - Old man LeBron, Westbrook and AD? That's an intriguing starter trio son Given, they would need some serious soldiers to help carry that reg season grind.

how would they be able to do that with $120.6 million tied into the hypothetical big trio? Who's the source for this?

their spacing would also be very bad.

[imbluestreak23]

This would be a complete disaster.

Watching the takes of Broussard on Undisputed and totally agree. Not a fit.

[imbluestreak23]

Originally Posted by daeve

how would they be able to do that with $120.6 million tied into the hypothetical big trio? Who's the source for this?

their spacing would also be very bad.

Reports are something centered around Kuzma, Schroder, and someone else, which depletes all of their pieces and depth.

[rifleman69]

Lakers already rebuilding? Yikes.

[daeve]

Originally Posted by imbluestreak23

Reports are something centered around Kuzma, Schroder, and someone else, which depletes all of their pieces and depth.

probably gotta be KCP. takes a lot to get to RW's salary, unless Wiz are willing to pay some of that, which they might be willing to...

this makes about as much sense as the "simmons to lakers?" posts.... unless ad mans up and decides he wants to play the 5, there's not really any way the FO would handicap themselves this much. You can hardly be a good team with two poor outside shooters, 3 is absolute no-no. Having $80 million tied into RW/Davis would be a huge handicap.

[the mesiah]

Hope this happens , the train wreck would be fun to watch ..

[Dame]

I’d love to see Westbrook retire as a Laker but I’m not too sure about the fit tbh. Lakers priority should be another playmaker, a three point specialist and a backup big.


I dont see the Wiz taking Schroeder, especially at his asking price but I’ve seen stranger things in this league.

[Randallk34]

Where are these rumors other the LeDouche saying he wants Westbrook or Paul to play with?

[The_Reverend]

Kuzma needs out of LA to develop. He has the talent. Ingram got out of LA and the Slim Reaper has produced. Russ is a playmaker and is fast paced all the time. A healthy AD, LeBron and Russ would be interesting.

[alwayson22]

As a Lakers fan and a Russ fan, my heart wants so much for this to happen.

[tjforce]

"To the Lakers" rumor's I've heard this year:
-Westbrook
-CP3
-Beal
-Simmons
-Sexton
-Lillard

I see reasons why the Lakers would want each of these guys... don't see a reason why any of those teams would want anything back that the Lakers have.

[yaoming]

Russ will be a much better fit over a guy like Ben Simmons
Westbrook can score, just not from long distance. but he can shoot midrange shot, can give you 30-40 pts on some nights. He can handle the ball.
He will be an upgrade over Schroeder&Kuzma.

Wizards would rather move Westbrook then Beal obviously, they can get more with Beal also, so Lakers will not get Beal, they dont have enough assets

[Kobefan]

Doesn’t seem like the wizards are getting back much for Westbrook, why would they do that? Even if they are rebuilding, those aren’t valuable pieces.

[daeve]

Originally Posted by Kobefan

Doesn’t seem like the wizards are getting back much for Westbrook, why would they do that? Even if they are rebuilding, those aren’t valuable pieces.

to get rid of his bloated contract so they can rebuild around their young core rather than get stuck in the purgatory of being an 8-10 seed.

It boils down to the Lakers needing another playmaker and the best players they'll have a shot at will be ones other teams will be trying to get rid of. That's the only reason RW even begins to make sense, but it still is a huge reach because he's not a 'shooter' and neither are Lebron/Davis....and they're all so expensive that the Lakers won't be able to afford to put shooting around them, as they'll easily get outbid for the few shooters on the market.

[imbluestreak23]

Originally Posted by tjforce

"To the Lakers" rumor's I've heard this year:
-Westbrook
-CP3
-Beal
-Simmons
-Sexton
-Lillard

I see reasons why the Lakers would want each of these guys... don't see a reason why any of those teams would want anything back that the Lakers have.

Throw in Curry lol

[Southpas2013]

I really cant see Russ fitting in here, he's just has too ball dominant to be effective, we saw it in Houston.

Would much rather prefer CP3.

[packman80]

How much help does Lebron need? He's got Davis so he needs another playmaker to win? How about they just get a decent bench and expect Lebron and Davis do their jobs and win? MKE just won and I don't see big name star next to Giannis? You got nice above average players in Middleton and Holiday who play hard and do their jobs but no one are going to say they are star playmakers. Don't know why we Lebron keeps needing 2 or 3 star playmakers if he is as good as everyone says he is.

[MattRoc]

Originally Posted by Southpas2013

I really cant see Russ fitting in here, he's just has too ball dominant to be effective, we saw it in Houston.

Would much rather prefer CP3.

Before the stoppage, Russ was playing some of the best and most efficient ball in his career in Houston when playing off-ball. Taking into account his bubble performance, after he had Covid and a debilitating quad injury doesnt make a whole lot of sense.

As for the fit, it would definitely be interesting. The Lakers do need shooters, but Bron is going to be 37 and they need another playmaker, as well. Russ can play that role and allow Bron to rest an extra handful of minutes a game while being a big upgrade over Schroeder.

No clue if the pieces can come together for a trade, but it would be fascinating to see how it would work.

[Randallk34]

"According to sources, LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers have been on the hunt for veteran point guard, and Paul is on the list," Spears wrote. "There have also been talks about Washington Wizards star Russell Westbrook being a potential candidate to move back home to Los Angeles in a sign-and-trade deal that could include free agent point guard Dennis Schroder, forward Kyle Kuzma and guard Talen Horton-Tucker, sources said."

Westbrook had one of the best seasons of his career in Washington last year. He averaged 22.2 points, 11.7 assists and 11.5 rebounds while leading the Wizards to the playoffs for the first time since 2018.

With the Lakers, Westbrook could give them some much-needed playmaking and scoring alongside LeBron James. Over the last two years, the LA offense has sputtered whenever James was on the bench.

Schroder, Kuzma and Horton-Tucker represent the Lakers' only real trade package they can offer this summer to upgrade their roster. The Anthony Davis trade cost the Lakers almost all of their future first-round picks and basically all of their young talent in Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram and Josh Hart.

The Wizards have not expressed any interest or desire to trade Westbrook away this offseason. They acquired him right before last season for John Wall and a future first-round pick and have stated their focus on building a contender around him and Bradley Beal.

[LC2nine10]

Originally Posted by rifleman69

Lakers already rebuilding? Yikes.

Bronbron is old.

As a Lakers fan this would be exciting. Morning a good way, but I'll watch and enjoy. It's sad how far the Lakers have fallen.

[tennelson55]

Originally Posted by packman80

How much help does Lebron need? He's got Davis so he needs another playmaker to win? How about they just get a decent bench and expect Lebron and Davis do their jobs and win? MKE just won and I don't see big name star next to Giannis? You got nice above average players in Middleton and Holiday who play hard and do their jobs but no one are going to say they are star playmakers. Don't know why we Lebron keeps needing 2 or 3 star playmakers if he is as good as everyone says he is.

Are you really saying that LeBron, age 36 -37 next year, is close to Giannis at this point in his career? Giannis is by and far the better player; #@#@#@#@ Durant is better than both and Durant 2/3 years ago was better than LeBron EZ. Where it gets close is Durant 5/6 years ago vs LeBron. That was the question.

LeBron was washed two years ago when they needed a miracle to win a chip. The same reason the Bucks won the chip this year is the same reason the Bucks won a chip this year; the injury bug. The past 5 years has been "The roster that survives the injury bug is the team that win the chip."

He's a shell of himself. He's not the LeBron we saw making blocks like Giannis did on Ayton this year. He's the guy who is on his last leg trying to transfer the reigns over to the next budding superstar (hopes of). I don't believe Davis is that primary guy, but he's the second guy.

The Lakers need a Beal type player now. They need an A guy; and it's near impossible to do without the rebuild.

[eastbayak]

Originally Posted by packman80

How much help does Lebron need? He's got Davis so he needs another playmaker to win? How about they just get a decent bench and expect Lebron and Davis do their jobs and win? MKE just won and I don't see big name star next to Giannis? You got nice above average players in Middleton and Holiday who play hard and do their jobs but no one are going to say they are star playmakers. Don't know why we Lebron keeps needing 2 or 3 star playmakers if he is as good as everyone says he is.

Giannis had some solid talent around him despite not having another superstar, you cannot deny that. Obviously, Middleton/Holiday didn't perform as good as their potential but they performed good enough (and it didn't hurt that Giannis had a legendary finals series).

KD had multiple superstars around him (in addition to some other decent players) but suffered from injury issues.

We're in the era of super teams, you need multiple superstars/all-stars (and be healthy) to have a shot at winning it all (Suns had CP3/Booker/Ayton, 76ers had Embiid/Simmons/Harris, Celtics had Tatum/Brown/Walker, etc).

[alwayson22]

Originally Posted by tennelson55

Are you really saying that LeBron, age 36 -37 next year, is close to Giannis at this point in his career? Giannis is by and far the better player; #@#@#@#@ Durant is better than both and Durant 2/3 years ago was better than LeBron EZ. Where it gets close is Durant 5/6 years ago vs LeBron. That was the question.

LeBron was washed two years ago when they needed a miracle to win a chip. The same reason the Bucks won the chip this year is the same reason the Bucks won a chip this year; the injury bug. The past 5 years has been "The roster that survives the injury bug is the team that win the chip."

He's a shell of himself. He's not the LeBron we saw making blocks like Giannis did on Ayton this year. He's the guy who is on his last leg trying to transfer the reigns over to the next budding superstar (hopes of). I don't believe Davis is that primary guy, but he's the second guy.

The Lakers need a Beal type player now. They need an A guy; and it's near impossible to do without the rebuild.

Lebron averaged 30-12-8.5 on 59% shooting in the NBA Finals just 9 months ago

[imbluestreak23]

Originally Posted by Randallk34

Westbrook had one of the best seasons of his career in Washington last year. He averaged 22.2 points, 11.7 assists and 11.5 rebounds while leading the Wizards to the playoffs for the first time since 2018.

Lol!!

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