The San Antonio Route for Russell Westbrook
For weeks, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Brooklyn Nets have tried to agree on a trade that would send Kyrie Irving westward to play alongside LeBron James. A wide variety of purported trade packages for both sides have been leaked, including a straight swap involving Russell Westbrook. Unfortunately, we haven’t seen much traction in the much-anticipated trade.
At a Stalemate
While the Irving-to-the-Lakers drama has been making the most noise of late, it appears that the potential deal is on hold for the time being.
For one, the Nets appear to be prioritizing the Kevin Durant trade request first before dealing with the Irving situation. If they’re able to successfully trade Kevin Durant in the coming weeks, they would have a better idea of what they could ask from the Lakers in exchange for number 11.
As it currently stands, both teams want different players involved. The Nets’ initial offer included Joe Harris. While Harris shot 46.6% from the three -point line during the 2021-202 regular season, he’s still on the road to recovery from surgery. If the Lakers were to bite on that offer, it would also mean taking Harris’ contract that will pay him $38.6M for the next two seasons.
Instead of Harris and his inflated contract, the Lakers put Seth Curry on their wishlist in the potential Irving deal. A slightly better three-point sniper than Harris (46.8%), Curry could be the long-distance bomber the Lakers have been lacking in recent years.
According to reports, the Lakers would be willing to give up draft compensation if the Nets take Joe Harris out of the picture.
A Third Team Needed
Since most observers believe that an Irving-Westbrook straight swap is out of the picture, the only solution for both the Lakers and the Nets to get a deal done is to add a third team into the mix.
Fortunately, there is one team in particular who could help in facilitating the trade: the San Antonio Spurs.
Coming off a trade that sent star point guard Dejounte Murray to Atlanta, the Spurs now need a new leader on the floor to guide them back to playoff contention. That potential leader could be Russell Westbrook.
Though many will scoff at the idea initially, keep in mind that this is still a Gregg Popovich led team, and the veteran bench boss hasn’t been shy about making his feelings about tanking known in the past. They may have a depleted roster at the moment, but make no mistake about it, the Spurs won’t be rolling over in any games during the 2022-23 campaign.
The catch on the Spurs getting involved would be regarding the draft compensation. Initial reports indicated the Nets wanted TWO first-round picks to receive Westbrook in exchange for Irving. One of those picks could then theoretically go to the Spurs with Westbrook then being re-routed to Texas.
The Spurs could then put either Josh Richardson or Doug McDermott into the package as a sweetener to make things more palatable for Brookly and LA.
While there’s also the possibility of Westbrook’s contract then being bought out by the Spurs with the team keeping the first-round pick, it would be interesting to see the former league MVP play under Gregg Popovich.
Then again, this would mean that Popovich would need to change his stance on being reluctant to deal with the Lakers, as he has been historically.
If this three-team trade happens, it would be a win-win for everyone involved. The Nets would be free of Kyrie Irving without needing to take on another bloated contract in return. The Lakers would reunite LeBron James with Irving- the guy he won a championship with in 2016. And the Spurs would get Westbrook who would finally be free from the Hollywood drama which never seemed like a good fit in the first place.
With summer league winding down, NBA fans can expect the rumour mill surrounding Irving & Westbrook to officially kick into high gear.
-Iggy Gonzales
Photo: Erik Drost. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.