‘Dream Scenario’ Sees Lakers Involved in 3-Team Trade That Lands 6-Time All-Star

The Los Angeles Lakers could trade one All-Star for another All-Star. They have been advised to get rid of Russell Westbrook. Brodie struggled to make an impact this past season. Instead of becoming the third option behind LeBron James and Anthony Davis, Russ became a disappointment. His skills and experience didn’t help him at all. He may be a good player, but his presence in Las Vegas made things worse than before.

The Lakers made an effort to trade Russ, offering him and Talen Horton-Tucker to the Indiana Pacers. Indiana turned down the offer.

Lakers to trade their All-Star sooner than expected?

Sean Deveney from Heavy discussed this topic with a Western Conference executive. The exec said that sending Russ back to the Oklahoma City Thunder is the perfect scenario.

“The most likely scenario is still Russ ending up back in Oklahoma City, they can absorb him into cap space, give him a year where he can get back to being himself and grab a couple of picks in the process,” the executive said. “It might not be the best thing as far as development goes, but it would be good for the fan base and they’d come away with some assets for it. It’s the dream scenario for Russ and for the Lakers, really, too, if they get another team to go along with it and come away with a player or two who actually fits.”

Oklahoma doesn’t have much to offer right now. In other words, the Lakers should contact a third team. The Miami Heat maybe?

“So you would get a three-team thing going, with Russ in Oklahoma City and a team like Miami if they really want to create space for Kyrie Irving or [Bradley] Beal, they can send [Kyle] Lowry and [Duncan] Robinson to the Lakers. And they’d have to chip in picks to make it worthwhile for the Thunder,” the executive said. “Mike Conley and Bogdanovic from Utah, too, you could do that. Getting Russ to OKC kind of gets the Lakers where they need to be on a deal like that.”

Is Lowry a better option than Westbrook? He is 36. LeBron won’t last forever. Why would the Lakers trade for an aging player?