Los Angeles Lakers Could Make Shocking U-Turn On Russell Westbrook's Future

Rob Pelinka and the Los Angeles Lakers could make a shocking decision regarding Russell Westbrook's future.

Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Russell Westbrook had a tough first season with the Los Angeles Lakers, getting a lot of criticism for his performances. The point guard struggled to find his position on the team and never clicked with LeBron James and Anthony Davis. The Lakers missed the playoffs and Russ got all the criticism, with many fans asking the team to trade him. 

This season, with Darvin Ham as the team's new head coach, the situation has changed. Russ is showing a better face, and even though the Lakers have struggled to win games again, his good performances coming off the bench added to Anthony Davis' resurface, make the Lakers fans dream about a good development for the rest of the season. 

Russ' good moment has earned the attention of teams around the league, with reports suggesting the Lakers have been getting calls about his availability, but nothing too serious. This could be huge for the Purple and Gold, but they could also take advantage of this situation and not let Russ go. 

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Los Angeles Lakers Could Make Shocking U-Turn On Russell Westbrook's Future

According to one NBA executive, the Lakers could make a U-turn on Westbrook's future and re-sign him in 2023 free agency. This would be a total surprise knowing all the rumors surrounding a Westbrook trade, but the player could earn his spot on the team if he keeps playing at this level. 

“No one likes to admit a mistake. Look, they had chances to just dump the guy if they wanted to, but if they did that, if it was an addition-by-subtraction thing, they would be saying, ‘Yeah we really messed up.’ They gave up (Kyle) Kuzma and KCP (Kentavious Caldwell-Pope) for the guy, and you see how much they miss guys who can play their roles, especially KCP. He is exactly what they need. So they have been gun-shy about getting rid of Westbrook because it’s egg on their face if they do.

So it is not crazy that they could sign him, at a much lower number than what he has this year. He is not going to have a market next year, not with all that has gone on in the past two seasons. Can he get a taxpayer midlevel (expected to be $7 million), even? What team is going to give him that right now? So if he stays in L.A. for that kind of contract, yeah that could happen, but it would have to be a very lowball deal,” the executive told Heavy Sports.

Again, nobody would expect this to happen, but seeing that the Lakers reportedly don't have interest in Kyrie Irving, they could turn their attention to Russ and try to keep him for the foreseeable future. He's playing great under Darvin Ham and is a great leader for the team's second unit. Moreover, he's playing well alongside Anthony Davis and the Lakers could give this duo the keys to the car. 

Right now, this seems very unlikely, but the Lakers have made crazy moves before and perhaps Russ' good level could secure his continuity on the 17-time NBA champions.

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