The Los Angeles Lakers have pulled off a blockbuster to create a new Big Three with Russell Westbrook, LeBron James, and Anthony Davis. The Lakers traded away Kyle Kuzma, Montrezl Harrell, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and the 22nd overall pick (Isaiah Jackson) to the Washington Wizards, along with two future picks.
This deal is set to be finalized on August 6 when the new league year starts. While this deal is great, the Lakers are not close to done in making offseason moves.
The Lakers have an all-in mindset as LeBron enters his 19th NBA season. Westbrook will be a guy that can take the load off of LBJ, especially when it comes to being a ball-handler. The Lakers now need to prioritize adding wing depth and great three-point shooters to surround their main superstars.
The next move that the team needs to make after the Wesbrook deal is to expand the deal to a three-team trade. According to NBA experts, there's still time for the Lakers to do it.
Official completion of a Westbrook-to-the-Lakers trade, like the recent Memphis/New Orleans trade, can't happen before Aug. 6 when the 2021-22 salary-cap year begins. As @JakeLFischer and others have noted, that gives time for the trade to expand beyond the Lakers and Washington. https://t.co/uI4vyAX0v3
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) July 29, 2021
Lakers trade gets Buddy Hield along with Russell Westbrook in the three-team trade
Now you may be thinking, how can the Lakers pull off this deal? Well, NBA free agency starts on August 2, and the Lakers could sign and trade Dennis Schroder or Talen Horton-Tucker to bring in Hield. They will have the cap space to make this happen since Westbrook's salary won't be on the books yet.
Another key factor is the Sacramento Kings just drafted another guard in the first round in Davion Mitchell. The Kings' guard rotation now includes Mitchell, De'Aaron Fox, and Tyrese Haliburton who are all dynamic players. It would make sense for the Kings to still be interested in moving on from Hield, and making a deal like this makes sense.
For the Lakers, this is the picture-perfect scenario. On top of getting a third star, they get one of the best three-point shooters in the league, which provides spacing for the team. Many said the title window has closed for the LeBron-led Lakers, but this deal would put them back in the position to win a championship.
With Westbrook joining LeBron and AD, the Lakers now have their version of the Big 3. All we need now is a couple of shooters and we’ll be tough to beat!!
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) July 30, 2021
What will LA look like after this deal?
The Lakers would have upgraded the positions they were looking for after this deal. Going into the offseason, the priority for the Lakers was getting a playmaker to take pressure off of LeBron and adding an elite-level shooter. This deal will force them to sign free agents using veteran minimum deals, however many veterans are expected to be interested in joining the Lakers.
The Lakers will need to target wing depth and outside shooters on these minimum deals. They also need to figure out what to do at the center position. Impending free agent Andre Drummond could be an option but may be out of the price range after this trade. After those moves, the Lakers will be ready to make a championship run. Teams like the Lakers, Brooklyn Nets, and the Milwaukee Bucks will be the top three teams heading into the 2021-22 season.
The main criticism of the Westbrook trade is that they won't have three-point shooting. Adding Hield to the deal takes away that concern and he would get a lot of open looks as teams would mainly focus on LeBron, Anthony Davis, and Westbrook. Hield is a career 40.6 percent 3-point shooter on 7.4 attempts per game.
This would be a crazy deal to get done, but it's very possible. Look for the Lakers to get back to title contention, especially if this deal goes down.
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