The Los Angeles Lakers are one of the busiest teams in the league heading toward Thursday night’s 2021 NBA Draft, with the storied franchise potentially working on multiple trades.
One name that the Lakers have been eyeing for a while now is Washington Wizards point guard Russell Westbrook as he is from L.A. and has close relationships with LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
With the draft on the horizon, it appears the Lakers are ready to make a big move as according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, they are on the verge of acquiring Westbrook for a blockbuster package involving Kyle Kuzma, Montrezl Harrell, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and the 22nd overall pick:
There's no agreement in place and work still to do on a Westbrook/Lakers deal, but talks with Kings on a possible Hield deal had also been ongoing between two teams, sources said. https://t.co/FV78eXb1Wh
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 29, 2021
This is a trade Washington wants to make with Bradley Beal in mind, creating some salary cap flexibility for the future to add talent around him, sources tell ESPN. The idea of returning to his Los Angeles roots has been appealing to Westbrook.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 29, 2021
According to Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report though, the deal could be expanded and may not be finalized on draft night:
There is an expectation that the Lakers' acquisition of Russell Westbrook may not be completed until the new league calendar year, similar to the NOLA-MEM trade, and it could even be finalized as a larger, multi-team deal during free agency, according to league sources.
— Jake Fischer (@JakeLFischer) July 29, 2021
The Lakers have been linked to virtually every big-name player and role player available heading into the offseason, with Westbrook being among the names linked to the franchise. The Wizards appear to be on the verge of shaking things up as Bradley Beal could also be on the move before the draft or before the 2021-22 season.
Another player the Lakers have been consistently linked to over the past week or so has been Buddy Hield of the Sacramento Kings. Hield has been on the outs with the Kings for quite some time with a parting of the ways being seemingly inevitable.
Before the news broke about a potential deal getting done between the Wizards and Lakers, a trade with the Kings was reportedly in the works. Hield would head to Los Angeles in exchange for Kuzma and Harrell, but that won’t be the case if the deal for Westbrook goes through at some point.
If the Lakers and Wizards expand the trade to make it a three or four-team deal then there’s potential the Lakers end up with both Westbrook and Hield. That would take a lot of maneuvering from Rob Pelinka though so it will be interesting to see how it all plays out.
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