The Los Angeles Lakers made it official on Thursday that the team has acquired veteran guard Patrick Beverley from the Utah Jazz. The deal sends Talen Horton-Tucker and Stanley Johnson to Utah in exchange for the 34-year-old guard.
Before the trade was made official on Thursday, Beverley took to Twitter to react to the reported trade of him being shipped back to the team that drafted him in 2009. He’s clearly happy about being in a potentially winning situation in a city that he’s very familiar with.
Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka said the following about acquiring Beverley in a press release sent out by the team.
“We are thrilled to add Patrick Beverley’s toughness and competitive spirit to our team,” Pelinka said. “We’re confident that Patrick’s ‘3-and-D’ style will fit in nicely with the other pieces of our roster and align perfectly with Coach Ham’s philosophy of hard work and smart play.”
With Beverley now officially in the fold in Los Angeles and one roster spot open, it’ll be interesting to see what the next move will be for the Purple and Gold.
All signs point to the team moving Russell Westbrook when given the chance. The addition of Beverley seems to hint at the prospect of a Westbrook trade being on the horizon, with the two guards not fond of one another, which would make for a less-than-stellar environment on the court and in the locker room during Lakers training camp.
Needless to say, the Lakers are almost certainly not done making moves with the start of training camp about a month away. The Westbrook situation needs to be resolved, with an upgrade or two on the roster being a step in the right direction.