NBA
Proposed Trade Sends Two Chicago All-Stars To Lakers In Exchange For Russel Westbrook
Zach Wolpin is an NBA and NFL expert who's been betting on the league for over three years now. Wolpin has been a fan of the NBA and has been watching for a decade and a half. He covers the latest news and stories surrounding the league daily. His passion in life is watching sports and being able to share that through his sports writing. He has written about the NBA and other sports leagues through various media outlets over the years like Sir Charles In Charge, G-Men HQ, and TAP into South Plainfield. Before he became an NBA News Writer, Wolpin attended Montclair State University where he graduated in 2021. He studied Sports Media and Writing while in school.
All posts by Zach WolpinUpdated01 Dec 2022
Lebron James and the LA Lakers are 8-12 this season, which is thirteenth in the Western Conference. The season started off poorly for LA and Russell Westbrook was struggling. Head coach Darvin Ham made the decision to have Westbrook come off the bench and it improved the team. A proposed trade however, would send Westbrook and two Lakers first round picks to Chicago for two of the Bulls all-stars.
In a podcast with Bill Simmons, he said that the Lakers should take advantage of the opportunity of a potential trade with Chicago. The proposal would send DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic to the Lakers in exchange for Westbrook and two first-round picks. That would be a blockbuster trade if it were to happen somehow.
Deebo brought out the Raging Bull 5s 🔥@DeMar_DeRozan | #BullsKicks pic.twitter.com/jpeVqFLZ60
— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) December 1, 2022
Could we see this blockbuster trade happen between LA and Chicago?
If Chicago wanted to revamp their roster this in the future, a trade with the Lakers could be the right move according to Bill Simmons.
“DeRozan and Vucevic to the Lakers for Russ and those two [first-round picks] and make the 27 unprotected, make the 29 top-five protected,”… “If you’re the Lakers, if you’re going to keep Davis, which I think is insane, but it seems like they’re going to. if you’re going to have LeBron.” – Bill Simmons
He explained how Lebron has already expressed his concerns to the Lakers about wasting another year where he’s still competing at a high level.
“LeBron’s already putting out all these feelers for it. ‘You know, you don’t want to waste a great year for me.’ And the West is wide open, so you can talk yourself into it. What happens to [Rob] Pelinka if the trade doesn’t work, he gets fired? He’s gonna get fired anyway.” – Bill Simmons
Ironically, the Lakers had a chance to sign DeRozan in 2021 when the two had mutual interests in potentially signing him. Westbrook is still owed $47 million and the Lakers likely are adding the draft picks on to make trading for Westbrook more appealing. A huge reason behind trading Westbrook is the Lakers want to try and clear up cap space for the 2023-24 season.
