Right now, Russell Westbrook is still a member of the Los Angeles Lakers. This is despite the team's best effort to try and find a new home for the former league MVP, who for his part, just hasn't really been a good fit alongside LeBron James and Co. in Hollywood. At this point, the Lakers might find some unlikely help from the Detroit Pistons.

An anonymous Eastern Conference executive recently spoke with Sean Deveney of heavy.com, and he floated the idea of a Russ trade to the Pistons. The exec argued that Detroit should be amenable to taking back Westbrook and his massive contract, under the premise of going full tank mode for the 2023 draft:

“I’d be willing to get involved if I were the Pistons,” the executive said. “I would want that 2027 pick unprotected, and take back Russell Westbrook and send you all my veterans, all my junk. Right now, Detroit is taking the approach of just waiting, playing with the guys they got from the Knicks, and trading during the season. That team needs to tank some more, they need (Victor) Wembanyama, or at least they need to be in the mix.”

Wembanyama is an 18-year-old 7-foot-2 French phenom who is widely considered the favorite to be the No. 1 overall pick next year. This young man could be a game-changer, and the unnamed executive believes that the Pistons should do all they can to get the highly-touted big man.

In this hypothetical trade, the executive proposes that the Pistons send back a handful of their veterans to the Lakers. This includes former All-Star point guard Kemba Walker, who has pretty much fallen off the cliff over the past few years:

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“Send back Alec Burks and Nerlens Noel and (Kelly) Olynyk and Kemba (Walker). The Lakers would be doing a 1-for-4 deal there, so they’d have to move guys around… You have some tradeable contracts, and you have some veterans you can use for depth. I’d consider it on both sides.”

A guy like Burks or Olynyk could be useful for the Lakers, and they could find themselves carving out a role in LA's rotation. However, there's no denying that the main motivation for the Lakers here is to get rid of Russell Westbrook — a prospect that they have struggled mightily on all summer long.