The Los Angeles Lakers are making moves. Just two weeks after LeBron James agreed to a two-year, $97.1 million extension to stay a little longer in LA, Rob Pelinka made a bold move in the hopes of improving the team for next season. The Lakers trade Talen Horton-Tucker and Stanley Johnson to the Utah Jazz for Patrick Beverley.

This Lakers trade on its own won’t make an enormous difference in next year’s win-loss record. However, now that Beverley is in the building, it is time to pull the trigger on another deal that could move the Lakers into the upper echelon of the Western Conference.

After acquiring Patrick Beverley from Jazz, the Lakers must make a Russell Westbrook trade with the Pacers

The Lakers trade for Patrick Beverly with the Jazz gives LA a perfect Russell Westbrook replacement.

Beverly brings a somewhat similar skill level (nowadays) to Westbrook with much more defensive intensity. He also doesn’t bring the mindset that he’s still one of the 10 best players in the NBA, nor does he take shots like he is.

And it’s not like Westbrook was incredibly important to the Lakers' 2022-23 plans to begin with, but now with the addition of Patrick Beverley, he is completely inconsequential on the court next season.

Additionally, Westbrook and Beverley certainly don’t seem to get along, on or off the court. Beverley injured Westbrook on an (overly?) aggressive steal attempt in the 2013 NBA Playoffs, and the two have had beef ever since.

All this adds up to one conclusion: The next Lakers trade must involve shipping Russell Westbrook out of town.

The problem with this Lakers trade that needs to happen is that NBA teams aren’t exactly burning up Rob Pelinka’s cell phone trying to get Russ. In fact, even though he now has a relatively attractive expiring $47 million contract, there are only a few teams who would/could make a deal for Westbrook right now.

The easiest trade, contractually, is sending Westbrook to the Brooklyn Nets for Kyrie Irving. For the Lakers, that’s just trading one headache for another (albeit a more talented headache). Plus, after seeing how badly LeBron wanted Westbrook out, Nets Assistant GM Kevin Durant likely wouldn’t sign off on that.

The deal the Lakers need to make after trading for Patrick Beverley from the Jazz is with the Indiana Pacers.

In July, rumors circulated that the Lakers and Pacers discussed a trade involving Russell Westbrook. The swap would have Russ and his $47 million contract heading to Indiana for Myles Turner ($18 million) and Buddy Hield ($21.1 million).

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A month ago, multiple reports noted that this trade fell apart because the Lakers refused to include a second first-round pick to sweeten the deal for the Pacers. The Eastern Conference team wanted both the Lakers 2027 and 2029 first-rounders.

Now that this most recent Lakers trade brought in Pat Beverley, it is time for Jeanie Buss and Rob Pelinka to bite the bullet, cough up the extra first, and end the Russell Westbrook Era in LA.

In addition to the positional overlap and animosity between Russ and Pat Bev, bringing in Turner and Hield will provide LeBron James and the Lakers players with the skillsets they need.

Turner is a good rim protector who’s led the league in blocks twice. He’s also a good pick-and-roll and pick-and-pop big who doesn’t need the ball in his hands to make an impact on a game. Hield is a three-point specialist who shoots 39.8% from behind the arc in his career.

A Lakers starting lineup of LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Patrick Beverley, Myles Turner, and either Buddy Hield or Lonnie Walker goes from a borderline play-in team to one of the seven best teams in the West.

With Russell Westbrook there instead of Turner and Hield, the 2022-23 season will be a tough one for the Lakers. This is why trading him to the Pacers is the next move the LA needs to make.

Contract figures courtesy of Spotrac