“The Lakers are gonna really have to thread the needle” - Nick Wright suggests blockbuster trade sending 12-time All-Star to the Lakers for Russell Westbrook
The LA Lakers are seemingly desperate to find a new home for Russell Westbrook. According to Nick Wright, the Lakers should find a way to trade him to the Phoenix Suns.
On "What's Wright?" with Nick Wright, the Fox Sports analyst spoke about how the Lakers need to find a way to trade Russell Westbrook along with draft picks for Chris Paul. The Suns might be looking to move on from CP3 considering his age and the performances this year. Nick Wright said:
"Russ only has one year left on his deal, if the Lakers call up the Suns and say - you want to pay 37 soon-to-be 38-year-old Chris Paul, I don't know.
"We like paying old guys. You want to be able to get off Landry Shamet's 10 million this year and next year, we'll give you Russ plus a couple of drafts picks, future picks that could be good because LeBron will be gone by then, Chris Paul will be gone by then.
"You can have those picks for Russ, Chris Paul and Landry Shamet plus picks from the Lakers and then Suns can decide. Will we try to use Russ or we just buy him out?"
Nick Wright continued:
"Will we try to pay him $38 million of those $47 million to pay him to go away, he can go sign somewhere else and we can, instead of being on the hook for around 90 million for Chris over the next three years.
"We're just going to be on the hook for this 40 to 47 million for Russ this year and we get off Shamet's money and we get the draft picks.
"The Lakers are going to really have to thread the needle on this Russ trade. They're gonna have to take back bad contracts. Is Chris Paul a bad contract at this point,? I don't know."
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Why has it gone so wrong for Russell Westbrook with the Lakers?
Russell Westbrook's return to his native Los Angeles to play for the LA Lakers alongside LeBron James was viewed as a homecoming that would bring the championship to the franchise this season.
However, things haven't panned out that way with the team being eliminated without making the Play-In tournament.
Westbrook finished the season averaging 18.5 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 7.1 assists per game this season. He shot 44.4% from the field and a paltry 29.8% from beyond the arc.
The 33-year-old also averaged 3.8 turnovers a night and the sheer pace at which he plays has been hard to keep up with for the oldest roster in the league. Russell Westbrook's defense was shockingly poor this season.
His team is ranked 21st in the league in defense. All of these factors, coupled with his exorbitant salary of over $44 million, made him an almost immovable prospect before the trade deadline day.
The former OKC Thunder superstar has a history of not getting along with other superstars on the court either.
The only way forward for him and the L.A.-based franchise seems to be a move away from the team. He needs to go to a place where he can run the show and be the man.
With his mammoth contract acting as a roadblock for the Lakers, Russell Westbrook needs to accept the proposition of coming off the bench and running the second unit if they can't find a trade for him.