Training camp may be less than a month away, but the Los Angeles Lakers still have a Russell Westbrook problem that hasn’t been solved.
The offseason is nearly over, and training camp is mere weeks away from opening, but there is much to be settled for the Los Angeles Lakers ahead of the new season. Despite all the changes this offseason, the Lakers still have a Russell Westbrook problem on their hands.
After the Lakers acquired Patrick Beverley from the Minnesota Timberwolves a couple of weeks ago, it was believed that a Westbrook trade was more likely. However, there has been no tangible movement on that front and it’s beginning to look like the Lakers are going to carry Russ on the roster into training camp.
The Lakers may have a new coach, a new collection of supporting cast around LeBron James and Anthony Davis, but this team still very much has a Westbrook problem that remains unresolved.
That should be confusing for a team that entered the offseason with one big goal – figuring out a way to upgrade the roster and, in doing so, getting Russ off the team. An argument can be made that they haven’t done either.
Before we start overreacting to what the Lakers could be with a fully healthy roster, which they should relatively be at the start of the season, let’s remember how bad of a fit Russ was in the short time the team was healthy.
When the Lakers’ trio was healthy and on the court together, the team was 11-10. They never looked right and 21 games aren’t nearly enough time to gel. Especially when those games are scattered across an entire season.
That said, are the Lakers willing to do all that again, with the hope for little reward? Even if the trio of Russ, LeBron, and AD improves from last season, the ceiling isn’t what many Lakers fans hope it would be.
For as good of a player Russ used to be, he’s no longer in the prime of his career and his game simply hasn’t aged well. And that’s not suddenly going to change overnight – or an offseason.
LeBron and AD are so great that it may not even end up mattering if they are healthy. But I can’t help but think how much of a disservice the Lakers are doing to themselves by continuing to sell themselves on the idea of it clicking for Russ on this team.
The Lakers’ offseason hasn’t been a colossal disaster, but it’s hard to look at it as a success at this point.