Lakers: Beverley, Schroder additions spell trouble for Westbrook’s LA tenure

Russell Westbrook’s time in Los Angeles has been strained almost from the very beginning. At best, his fit with co-star teammates LeBron James and Anthony Davis has been questionable. While Westbrook still has some ability to get the job done, his lack of spacing and defense really hinders the Lakers. Rumors of him being traded have been relentless throughout the offseason and will not cease with the additions of Patrick Beverley and Dennis Schroder.

Both point guards are joining a roster that already has Kendrick Nunn, who plays at their position as well. Now the issue is where does Westbrook fit on a team that has three other point guards? Factor in how Davis notoriously does not like to play center and you can’t really go small ball much to force these line-ups to work. This guard-heavy roster forces anyone to wonder if Los Angeles has a plan to make this work. That plan more than likely is moving Russell Westbrook to another team.

The Lakers are bound to trade Russell Westbrook given recent signings.

It is really hard for an NBA player to make it in today’s league while being bad at both defense and hitting the long ball. Being below par at one of these things is survivable but at both is a near death sentence. Combine these factors with his large contract and it will be very hard for Los Angeles to trade Westbrook. They will likely have to package one or two of their future first-round picks to a rebuilding team and these picks will be in 2027 and 2029. The teams in consideration for this transaction are the Utah Jazz, Indiana Pacers and San Antonio Spurs.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the Los Angeles Lakers acquired two guards who each carry a quality that Westbrook doesn’t. Beverley is a really good defender while Dennis Schroder is solid at making shots and hitting the long ball from deep. It also does not help that Beverley and Westbrook have a history with each other. They have taken a good number of verbal shots at each other through the media over the years. Beverley’s recent comments likely have not helped either, where he stated that the other Lakers stars are playing with him and not the other way around. He also was citing how he made the Playoffs and they didn’t.

While none of these things are a big deal alone, it is something that can add up over time. The good news is that if Los Angeles can make a trade happen at the expense of picks, they will get a solid vet in return since those teams mentioned have to send someone back. For instance, the San Antonio Spurs can send back Josh Richardson, a three-point shooting and defensive-minded vet. The Utah Jazz can send Bojan Bogdanovic as cap filler and the Indiana Pacers would likely send Buddy Hield.

These are all scenarios that the Los Angeles Lakers can find more useful to fight for a title now, as opposed to letting Westbrook play out the rest of this season.

They have a few avenues to explore that would help balance the roster out while unloading a player that hasn’t been able to fit in with them.