NBA Executive Says Thunder Are Team to ‘Keep an Eye on’ in Westbrook Trade

The Los Angeles Lakers lost 20 of the last 28 games and fans are worried. The front office didn’t make a move at the trade deadline. Rob Pelinka decided to move on with Russell Westbrook on the roster. Well, at least one NBA executive believes that the Lakers should put Westbrook on the trade block.

Truth is, the nine-time All-Star is just a shelf of himself. Lakers fans are frustrated and some of them even call him names. Broddie is one of the most competitive players in the league but his talent didn’t help LA at all.

An NBA executive shared that the Oklahoma City Thunder could agree to a trade deal with the Lakers. According to the exec, the Lakers would have to pay some cash.

“Keep an eye on Oklahoma City when it comes to Russ. There is a lot of loyalty there that goes both ways and the feeling is, this situation is as bad for Russ as it is for the Lakers,” Sean Deveney said. “So the Thunder could offer a lifeline to get him out of L.A. and let him start over and sort of finish his career more on his own terms.

“The Thunder have obviously a lot of flexibility, a lot of room to maneuver with something like that. They could send back a Derrick Favors or someone like that. But Sam Presti is not in the charity business, he will ask for both of the picks the Lakers have to offer, that 2027 pick and that 2029 pick. It could work but I can’t see the Lakers giving up both picks. If the Thunder were willing to take back one, there might be something there. That opens up a massive trade exception for the Lakers, too, which they could use to absorb someone else.”

NBA executive places Westbrook on the trade block

Westbrook doesn’t play his best basketball, but the Thunder may make a move and get him. The Houston Rockets made an offer but they wanted Russ and a first-round pick. Deveney believes that the Thunder make more sense than any other team when it comes to getting Russ.

“The team that probably makes the most sense and the one thing that maybe could work out if the Lakers were willing to attach at least one first-round pick, they have that 2027 one that became a topic of discussion at the trade deadline, the one thing I have heard is Oklahoma City could take Russell Westbrook back into cap space because, believe it or not, they will have enough cap space much like they did with Kemba Walker last year,” Deveney said. “At that point, they could either release him or let him play out a year in Oklahoma City, just because obviously he did a lot for that team and that team has a big appreciation for him.”

The Lakers got Russ to be the third option behind LeBron and Anthony Davis but their experiment didn’t work. Now may be the perfect time to say ‘goodbye’.