Despite the fact that Patrick Beverley's arrival seemed to have further pushed Russell Westbrook out of the Los Angeles Lakers, the truth is that talks surrounding a Russ trade away from LA have somewhat died down over the past few days/weeks. As it turns out, this could have a lot to do with the notion that the Lakers are now actually seriously considering the prospect of keeping Westbrook in Hollywood this coming season.

ESPN's NBA insider Brian Windhorst recently dropped a truth bomb on the Lakers' current outlook on a potential Westbrook deal. Apparently, it now looks like Russ will get another shot at proving his worth to the team. Windy made this revelation on a recent episode of his Brian Windhorst & the Hoop Collective podcast:

“Based on the executives I’m talking to, they believe that the Lakers have come to the conclusion that they are not gonna trade Westbrook now because they don’t like any of their offers and they’re going to try to make the best of it and see what happens,” said Windhorst. “That’s what the executives think.”

Unfortunately for Westbrook, it doesn't sound like this was the Lakers' first option. It appears that LA did try to find a suitable trade partner for the former league MVP, only to realize that the market for him was pretty much non-existent. It now feels like the Lakers have no other choice but to try and see their Russell Westbrook experiment through.

For his part, however, Windhorst made it abundantly clear that he doesn't think a Westbrook-Beverley partnership will work. Nevertheless, it now seems as though the Lakers will be entering 2022-23 with this previously unimaginable backcourt tandem.