Reports: LA Lakers reportedly declined a trade for Bojan Bogdanović, Rudy Gay, and Mike Conley
A new report suggests that the LA Lakers reportedly turned down a trade for Bojan Bogdanovic, Rudy Gay and Mike Conley.
Tony Jones of The Athletic reported that the offer was for Russell Westbrook and LA's 2027 and 2029 first-round picks. Although the Lakers would have loaned their future with this trade, it might have been for the best from their current standpoint.
The Lakers reportedly turned down a trade for Bojan Bogdanović, Rudy Gay, and Mike Conley - Silver Screen and Roll dlvr.it/SbRYQr https://t.co/QLJYcmykCb
What should the LA Lakers do with Westbrook?
At the moment, it seems best that the Lakers move on from Westbrook for a few different reasons. For one, you can tell that he isn't enjoying himself on the court and it's likely causing issues elsewhere in the Lakers locker room. If they can go out and get a decent return, it might be best for both parties.
Westbrook will have to continue playing better if he wants to stick on the Lakers, but that doesn't seem like it's ever going to happen. He became the scapegoat there and now the team is in a bad position because of it.
The Lakers at this point need to trade him for players that can help them out. It doesn't matter if the picks have to be added or not, the Lakers should get a deal done.
Would the Lakers trading Russell be a good idea?
From a Laker standpoint, adding Bojan Bogdanovic, Rudy Gay and Mike Conley could have been a good idea. All three players can shoot at an elite level. The one guy that stands out is Bogdanovic. He's one of the best shooters, which has been evident throughout the first two games of the season.
Throughout his career, Bogdanovic has been a 39.3% 3-point shooter. This is exactly what the Lakers need next to a guy like LeBron James.
LA still has some tough decisions to make despite the season starting. They could decide to move on from Russell Westbrook, although that might not be the best idea from their standpoint considering that they might not get the return that they were looking for. At this point, if they can get a few shooters back for Westbrook, it's probably in their best interest to go out and make that deal.
One downfall of trading picks with the Los Angeles Lakers is that they're going to handcuff themselves for the future. You don't necessarily have to worry about the future when you have LeBron James and Anthony Davis on your team, but they're going to need to be smart with what they do if they want the future of this organization to be one that everybody is expecting.
The Lakers can go out and get anybody in basketball at any given moment because of the money they have and the notoriety. If the Lakers don't have any draft picks, it might not even be the end of the world because they can go out and get free agents. They need to make the right move right now because it's starting to get too late.