Los Angeles Lakers point guard Russell Westbrook picked up his $47.1 million player option for the 2022-23 season on Tuesday. While the Lakers would ultimately prefer to trade Westbrook, The Athletic's Jovan Buha reports they're currently planning for him to be on the roster to start next season.

Signs have been pointing this way for a long time. Los Angeles continues to hold firm on the stance of not trading future draft capital to get off Westbrook's deal. Plus, unlike John Wall with the Houston Rockets, a buyout doesn't seem to be an option.

So, with no Westbrook trades materializing, the Lakers are operating as if Westbrook will be back and selling the idea that they really want to make it work with him. That's surely the case assuming he's back on the roster, because they have no other choice but to try to make it work if they keep him around.

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New Lakers head coach Darvin Ham has talked up Westbrook and communicated with him expectations for the next season. They want to see him make more of a commitment on the defensive end and try to figure out a way to mesh better with LeBron James and Russell Westbrook.

Perhaps Los Angeles is finally able to find a deal that works for Westbrook before next season. There's always the possibility that more funky stuff happens with Kyrie Irving and those two teams try to work something out. But, for now, the expectation is that Russ will be a Laker in 2022-23.