Russell Westbrook and Blake Griffin (Photo : NBAE via Getty Images)
The LA Lakers may need to actually trade for Russell Westbrook in light of their current cap situation and they may be preparing the trade package.
According to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders, the Lakers could only have a maximum of $ 31 million in cap space for 2017 and that would not be enough for two max players, unless they manage to trade off their new acquisitions Timofey Mozgov and Luol Deng.
Thus, trading for Westbrook and gaining his Bird Rights could be a beneficial move. As Matt Moore of CBS Sports mentioned, the Lakers should make a move and not just wait for free agency because "whoever trades for him retains his bird rights to re-sign him to a five-year deal for more money, plus players aren't going to want to leave twice in a year."
The Lakers could not become a contender by just adding Westbrook. He must be paired with another superstar and the 2017 free agency class has Blake Griffin, Steph Curry, Serge Ibaka and even Kevin Durant himself could change teams. Bird Rights will allow the Lakers to sign a max free agent first, then go over the cap when they sign Westbrook to his own max deal.
The Lakers are the pre-emptive favorites to re-sign Westbrook and the scenario is that if ever Westbrook declines to sign the extension, the Thunder will choose to trade him instead of lose him for nothing-and it has to be soon as Moore also said "The later it gets into the season, the more desperate you look to get rid of a guy you're probably going to lose in the offseason anyway. Teams will feast on that and you can end up taking a low-ball deal just to cut your losses."
However, the Lakers need to be cautious of giving up too much. Westbrook has to sit down and meet with the Thunder and Lakers front offices to find a suitable deal.
The deal would center on D'Angelo Russell. He plays the same position as Westbrook and is probably the Lakers' most valuable asset. The other trade piece could be Julius Randle or Larry Nance.
Nance was a fan favorite this Summer League while Randle skipped the event, leading conspiracy theorists to think that the Lakers are selling Russell and Nance as trade pieces (Jordan Clarkson didn't play in Summer League, too). It's unlikely that the Lakers would include Ingram, knowing that the Thunder are not in a position of power.
The Thunder placed themselves on the spot when they chose to offer the extension but GM Sam Presti would rather move on and rebuild the team instead of spending a whole season being distracted by trade rumors and speculation. That's what he did when he traded James Harden.
If the Lakers succeed in trading for Westbrook and eventually signing someone like Blake Griffin, they essentiallly replaced D'Angelo Russell and Larry Nance with Westbrook and Griffin. That would be an ideal scenario.
