Los Angeles Lakers: With no Kyrie Irving trade, Russell Westbrook will have to do

With no Kyrie Irving trade in sight, Russell Westbrook will have to do for the Los Angeles Lakers heading into the 2022-23 NBA season.

Entering the dog days of the NBA offseason, it’s looking more and more likely that the Los Angeles Lakers are going to run it back heading into the 2022-23 NBA season. For better or worse, we will get year two of Russell Westbrook, LeBron James, and Anthony Davis.

With the prospect of the Lakers trading for Kyrie Irving looking less and less likely by the day, at least for now, it appears that running it back will have to do. That means the Lakers will have to rely on Westbrook to be a good player for them to make the turnaround that most expect – or are hoping – them to make.

The good news is that it’s unlikely that the Lakers will be worse than last season. Even though the fit was pretty awkward, the trio of Russ, LeBron, and AD can’t be worse than it was last season. And most of that is due to the fact that the expectation is they’ll be a bit – perhaps significantly – healthier than they were a year ago.

Last season, LeBron and AD missed extended periods of time. Assuming that won’t be the case this season again, the Lakers should be able to bounce back at least when it comes to availability.

And more often than not, availability was the Lakers’ worst ability last season. If the Lakers are merely healthier than they were last season, they should be better. And if new Lakers head coach Darvin Ham can figure out how to manage Russ, LeBron, and AD better, it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility that LA could work their way up to a top 5 spot in the Western Conference standings.

That appears to be what the plan is for now.

It was reported that the trio of Russ, LeBron, and AD had a phone conversation in which they all attempted to get on the same page as whispers grew louder and louder about what could happen this offseason.

It remains to be seen if that will change anything heading into this next season, but it’s worth a try at this point. Especially considering there’s really not a clear move that the Lakers could make to get Westbrook off the roster.

With that understanding, it’s only natural for LeBron and AD to try to make the best of the situation. So the “phone call” is not that surprising. After all, what else was LeBron and AD supposed to do after it was known there was no way Westbrook was going to op out of a nearly $50 million payday.

With LeBron heading into the final year of his contract with the Lakers (which hasn’t been talked about merely enough this offseason), there is plenty at stake this season. And it seems as if the Lakers are willing to live and die with Westbrook being able to fit and make it work with LeBron and AD.