D’Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt to Lakers

[LAKESHOW]

I'm looking at it differently. Front office perspective. If One offer 84 Million dollars to an individual, that tells me they hold him in high regard and would possibly retain said individual.
Secondly, if you are still a Buss family member, still having some sort of standing within family matters. And if an individual was your 1st choice in the draft, there is sentimentality involved, in the belief that it can work. They might be looking to also retain DLo.

[danfantastk32]

To me the Lakers got fleeeeced. Russell will, at most, replace Westbrooks scoring but with far worse defense and mind numbing lack of concern. So we get an expiring piece for an expiring piece and we trade a number 1 pick to get what.... Beasley and Vanderbilt? I don't get it.

First and foremost, I am just glad brick-boy is gone. Terrible, terrible chapter in our history. Good riddance. I do think DLo will be a better fit, as he can shoot. Will offensively work with Lebron much better.

That said, this trade was completely stupid. This team is 13th of 15 out West. This team SUCKS. Get real. 13 of 15 blows. So why toss away 2 picks (a first rounder no less!) for a 25 game rental-swap? This FO is so desperate, but why? Even if you do play .500 and get into a play-in spot (as if thats saying something)....what next?

What a waste man. And they had been so good about it all year long. And then right at the very end, they fell back into their stupid, desperate ways. And for what??....sheesh

[danfantastk32]

I'm looking at it differently. Front office perspective. If One offer 84 Million dollars to an individual, that tells me they hold him in high regard and would possibly retain said individual.
Secondly, if you are still a Buss family member, still having some sort of standing within family matters. And if an individual was your 1st choice in the draft, there is sentimentality involved, in the belief that it can work. They might be looking to also retain DLo.

But when your running a massive sports organization, you really aughta put your petty ego to the side, and objectively look at what this guy has been for 7 years since he left. He's not crap...but he hardly moves the meter. He's a decent, but streaky, scorer in the league...with zero defense.

Unless you plan to give the guy $5-8 mil a year (which wont get it done) your essentially locked in with those 3 player now. There's no room for anything else. You really wanna go to war next season with this? Cause we just parted with some valuable picks to make this happen. So it's a damn shame either way, really.

[Joe Kleazy]

I had to go out my way to log in and respond to the post above. That pick given up brought back good value considering what was being asked of us in deals all year with the lakers tax. We never get treated fairly by other teams in deals so to complain about what we got for russ is ridiculous. Those picks are only as valuable as what someone will give you in return, so while we didn’t get a perfect return, we never were getting that anyway.

We broke the russ contract into 3 smaller, younger roster fits that should give bron & AD no excuse in finishing the season strong

[Pointgod]

To me the Lakers got fleeeeced. Russell will, at most, replace Westbrooks scoring but with far worse defense and mind numbing lack of concern. So we get an expiring piece for an expiring piece and we trade a number 1 pick to get what.... Beasley and Vanderbilt? I don't get it.

First and foremost, I am just glad brick-boy is gone. Terrible, terrible chapter in our history. Good riddance. I do think DLo will be a better fit, as he can shoot. Will offensively work with Lebron much better.

That said, this trade was completely stupid. This team is 13th of 15 out West. This team SUCKS. Get real. 13 of 15 blows. So why toss away 2 picks (a first rounder no less!) for a 25 game rental-swap? This FO is so desperate, but why? Even if you do play .500 and get into a play-in spot (as if thats saying something)....what next?

What a waste man. And they had been so good about it all year long. And then right at the very end, they fell back into their stupid, desperate ways. And for what??....sheesh

Hear hear we traded a pick just to get into the play in. I believe we could have made some moves that could help us get into the play in without giving up a 1st round pick. Just absolute malpractice from Pelinka.

[Joe Kleazy]

The delusion around here from some folks pertaining to trades is comical. NOBODY was taking Russ (Whom EVERYONE wanted gone) without one of those picks. Pelinka is BY FAR one of the most unqualified individuals to GM our team, but Jerry West and a contingency of SAS staff wasn’t getting rid of russ without that pick. I’m shocked it only to one and they let him protect it at all.

[Landsberger]

To me the Lakers got fleeeeced. Russell will, at most, replace Westbrooks scoring but with far worse defense and mind numbing lack of concern. So we get an expiring piece for an expiring piece and we trade a number 1 pick to get what.... Beasley and Vanderbilt? I don't get it.

First and foremost, I am just glad brick-boy is gone. Terrible, terrible chapter in our history. Good riddance. I do think DLo will be a better fit, as he can shoot. Will offensively work with Lebron much better.

That said, this trade was completely stupid. This team is 13th of 15 out West. This team SUCKS. Get real. 13 of 15 blows. So why toss away 2 picks (a first rounder no less!) for a 25 game rental-swap? This FO is so desperate, but why? Even if you do play .500 and get into a play-in spot (as if thats saying something)....what next?

What a waste man. And they had been so good about it all year long. And then right at the very end, they fell back into their stupid, desperate ways. And for what??....sheesh

Russell is a career 42% shooter and Westbrook is a career 43% shooter. Let's not get excited by 5% difference in 3 point shooting as it equates to very little. I've done the math for everyone here before. Shoot 6 3's a game and shoot 35% vs someone shooting 6 and hitting 40% is about 1.3 more made 3's a week... (24 more over 82 games). It's the most overrated stat around.

Now, I detest Westbrook and about the only worse player the Lakers could acquire would be Chris Paul in my mind. Russell doesn't register with me much because he doesn't care... at all. His defense is historically bad and at least Westbrook can take shots at the basket while Russell just chucks after showing he can barely imitate Curry.

He's not here long and won't be much of an needle mover for this team. He's not anyone who can play without the ball so he's useless at the end of games. Not only that his defense makes him dangerous at the end of games. A few years ago NJ kept taking him out of the games in close games down the stretch. I'm not sure I've every seen that happen with your leading scorer but it did then.

What this does do it give LeBron another drone on the team. Someone who won't talk back or "ask" for anything. That's what this move was about and it cost a 1st round pick that we will need when this dumpster fire burns out.

[Landsberger]

I had to go out my way to log in and respond to the post above. That pick given up brought back good value considering what was being asked of us in deals all year with the lakers tax. We never get treated fairly by other teams in deals so to complain about what we got for russ is ridiculous. Those picks are only as valuable as what someone will give you in return, so while we didn’t get a perfect return, we never were getting that anyway.

We broke the russ contract into 3 smaller, younger roster fits that should give bron & AD no excuse in finishing the season strong

The pick will seem very important in 27, when we are throwing games to be one of the 4 worst teams in the league. The players we got will not make us a winner this year, next or the year after that.

Picks like that got us players like Davis and others over the years. To sit there and say that those 2 are a good return because the league treats us unfairly is a little ironic IMHO. Especially when we trade it to get rid of someone we traded additional picks and players we drafted with firsts to get in the first place. We have no one to blame but our selves. Somehow the FO is doing well now... when they could have gotten this return last year for a whole lot less than they traded for Westbrook... now we're happy that we traded even more to get rid of him.

in 18 months we've traded

KCP
Kuzma
(2) First round Picks
1 second round pick
Jones
Walker

For

Russell
Beasley
Vanderbilt

[danfantastk32]

I had to go out my way to log in and respond to the post above. That pick given up brought back good value considering what was being asked of us in deals all year with the lakers tax. We never get treated fairly by other teams in deals so to complain about what we got for russ is ridiculous.

I don't get your logic at all. So...it's good that we only got MILDLY ripped off? With only 25 games to go, why not just keep the pick, instead of getting "only slightly" ripped off? That truly makes no sense.

Those picks are only as valuable as what someone will give you in return, so while we didn’t get a perfect return, we never were getting that anyway.

Or that pick could turn into the next star player. Especially if 2026 is a crap year for us. I see we're 13th in the Western conference this season.....prob won't be much better with Lebron and Davis 3 years older, eh?

[danfantastk32]

The delusion around here from some folks pertaining to trades is comical. NOBODY was taking Russ (Whom EVERYONE wanted gone) without one of those picks. Pelinka is BY FAR one of the most unqualified individuals to GM our team, but Jerry West and a contingency of SAS staff wasn’t getting rid of russ without that pick. I’m shocked it only to one and they let him protect it at all.

Delusion eh? You talk like trading Westbrook was the only option. We're 2/3rds of the way through this last season of his contract, and then Westbrook walks, and we keep our pick.

Your right about 1 thing: nobody was taking Russ without a pick. Cause they know the Lakers are stupid and desperate. And they just proved them right. But where you're flat wrong, is we didnt have to make a trade at all!! We lived with Brick for 140-ish games. Coulda held out another 25.

Pathetic

[Landsberger]

The delusion around here from some folks pertaining to trades is comical. NOBODY was taking Russ (Whom EVERYONE wanted gone) without one of those picks. Pelinka is BY FAR one of the most unqualified individuals to GM our team, but Jerry West and a contingency of SAS staff wasn’t getting rid of russ without that pick. I’m shocked it only to one and they let him protect it at all.

The delusion is that this team can win another championship with Davis and Bron as the best players. I follow this team to see us at the top... not sneaking into the playoffs. I guess "success" is defined differently. Why not ride out the season with Westbrook, keep the pick and reassess the situation in the offseason. This move didn't move the needle other than making LeBron happy and give the fan base a reason to keep watching this train wreck.

[Pointgod]

The delusion around here from some folks pertaining to trades is comical. NOBODY was taking Russ (Whom EVERYONE wanted gone) without one of those picks. Pelinka is BY FAR one of the most unqualified individuals to GM our team, but Jerry West and a contingency of SAS staff wasn’t getting rid of russ without that pick. I’m shocked it only to one and they let him protect it at all.

This is incorrect. Nobody was trading for Russ for another expiring contract or absorbing him into capspace without the pick but there are teams out there that would trade for him without it if we take on longer term salary. The problem is that the media is looking at Russ from a player standpoint and not as a massive expiring contract. Even then, not so sure his value was that low because we still have teams that want him after he gets bought out. It was the media narrative that was driving us to give up both picks for Russ. First it was for Hield and Turner lol, then Kyrie (which we stupidly offered). Pelinka bought into it instead of letting the league know that we’ll take on salary and looking for creative deals from a third team.

For example I’m 100% convinced we could have traded Westbrick plus second round picks (Thomas Bryant deal) for Plumlee, Gordon Hayward, Dennis Smith Jr. I know you’ll say oh Hayward sucks! He’s always injured and has a huge contract. I’d say yeah that’s the whole point of the trade. Normally the Hornets would have to attach multiple picks to get rid of his remaining two years but trading for Westbrook immediately clears massive cap space. We’d be doing them a favor by providing a ton of flexibility and they’d get more picks than they got from the Clippers trade. We’d still have Beverly’s expiring contract to trade for more 3 and D players and there’s also the buyout market. We owe our pick to the Pelicans so we need to remain competitive but there’s also zero chance we’re winning a title this year. The difference is that we’d go into the offseason nicely setup to make a move to bring in a major piece (3 picks, swaps, Haywards contract to match salary) and acting as a team over the cap unlocks our MLE so we wouldn’t have the depth issues that has plagued us the past two years.

[NBAWestFan]

I am ready to watch the lakers again now they they have some three point shooting, Lebron has his record, hopefully he understands that in order to win it is a team game.

Mostly I like the hustle I see especially from Vanderbilt and Schroeder.

Keep these guys motivated and they might go far.

[stan francisco]

I am ready to watch the lakers again now they they have some three point shooting, Lebron has his record, hopefully he understands that in order to win it is a team game.

Mostly I like the hustle I see especially from Vanderbilt and Schroeder.

Keep these guys motivated and they might go far.

Yeah. Agreed. This is a good roster. Schroeder has surprised me, too.

If we had PJ as our coach, I’d say 18-5 is possible for the post ASB home stretch. I just haven’t seen much defensive consistency to believe we can go more than 13-10.

D Russell, LBJames, A Davis makes for a formidable triangle trio. A-hem!

Reaves and Vanderbilt get my votes as starting role players based on their defensive effort. Schroeder can control the game of second units, not first units. I’d spend his effort there, not against starters.

[tamaraw08]

To me the Lakers got fleeeeced. Russell will, at most, replace Westbrooks scoring but with far worse defense and mind numbing lack of concern. So we get an expiring piece for an expiring piece and we trade a number 1 pick to get what.... Beasley and Vanderbilt? I don't get it.

First and foremost, I am just glad brick-boy is gone. Terrible, terrible chapter in our history. Good riddance. I do think DLo will be a better fit, as he can shoot. Will offensively work with Lebron much better.

That said, this trade was completely stupid. This team is 13th of 15 out West. This team SUCKS. Get real. 13 of 15 blows. So why toss away 2 picks (a first rounder no less!) for a 25 game rental-swap? This FO is so desperate, but why? Even if you do play .500 and get into a play-in spot (as if thats saying something)....what next?

What a waste man. And they had been so good about it all year long. And then right at the very end, they fell back into their stupid, desperate ways. And for what??....sheesh

Russell is a career 42% shooter and Westbrook is a career 43% shooter. Let's not get excited by 5% difference in 3 point shooting as it equates to very little. I've done the math for everyone here before. Shoot 6 3's a game and shoot 35% vs someone shooting 6 and hitting 40% is about 1.3 more made 3's a week... (24 more over 82 games). It's the most overrated stat around.

Now, I detest Westbrook and about the only worse player the Lakers could acquire would be Chris Paul in my mind. Russell doesn't register with me much because he doesn't care... at all. His defense is historically bad and at least Westbrook can take shots at the basket while Russell just chucks after showing he can barely imitate Curry.

He's not here long and won't be much of an needle mover for this team. He's not anyone who can play without the ball so he's useless at the end of games. Not only that his defense makes him dangerous at the end of games. A few years ago NJ kept taking him out of the games in close games down the stretch. I'm not sure I've every seen that happen with your leading scorer but it did then.

What this does do it give LeBron another drone on the team. Someone who won't talk back or "ask" for anything. That's what this move was about and it cost a 1st round pick that we will need when this dumpster fire burns out.

I am a bit confused on why you use FG%(which for me it not very accurate) AND at the same time went with career FG% instead of their more current FG %'s.
Russ shot pretty well for his Peak years had a few season where he shot around 44% but isn't his current FG % of 41.7% a bit more accurate considering that he's not really shooting well, finishing great etc?
Again why not go with TS% where it factors in other important aspects like 3pt shooting values and FT attempts and accuracy?
Or even just simplify it more with total Points scored per total attempts?
I also do not like Westbrook's fit, D'Lo seems to fit more on offense and he will appear to show that he actually cares this time when he is looking for a lucrative contract so I would be concern about this guy come the off-season. There are only 3 players that I hate for the Lakers to acquire, and that includes D'Lo along with Lonzo and Porzingis but again he will show promise with the remaining 21 games and possibly the playoffs.

[TylersLakers]

It's so pleasant to watch this team again.

The last year and a half has been a chore to watch them and root for them. Having Westbrook gone is a breath of fresh air. Thank goodness.

[Landsberger]

First and foremost, I am just glad brick-boy is gone. Terrible, terrible chapter in our history. Good riddance. I do think DLo will be a better fit, as he can shoot. Will offensively work with Lebron much better.

That said, this trade was completely stupid. This team is 13th of 15 out West. This team SUCKS. Get real. 13 of 15 blows. So why toss away 2 picks (a first rounder no less!) for a 25 game rental-swap? This FO is so desperate, but why? Even if you do play .500 and get into a play-in spot (as if thats saying something)....what next?

What a waste man. And they had been so good about it all year long. And then right at the very end, they fell back into their stupid, desperate ways. And for what??....sheesh

Russell is a career 42% shooter and Westbrook is a career 43% shooter. Let's not get excited by 5% difference in 3 point shooting as it equates to very little. I've done the math for everyone here before. Shoot 6 3's a game and shoot 35% vs someone shooting 6 and hitting 40% is about 1.3 more made 3's a week... (24 more over 82 games). It's the most overrated stat around.

Now, I detest Westbrook and about the only worse player the Lakers could acquire would be Chris Paul in my mind. Russell doesn't register with me much because he doesn't care... at all. His defense is historically bad and at least Westbrook can take shots at the basket while Russell just chucks after showing he can barely imitate Curry.

He's not here long and won't be much of an needle mover for this team. He's not anyone who can play without the ball so he's useless at the end of games. Not only that his defense makes him dangerous at the end of games. A few years ago NJ kept taking him out of the games in close games down the stretch. I'm not sure I've every seen that happen with your leading scorer but it did then.

What this does do it give LeBron another drone on the team. Someone who won't talk back or "ask" for anything. That's what this move was about and it cost a 1st round pick that we will need when this dumpster fire burns out.

I am a bit confused on why you use FG%(which for me it not very accurate) AND at the same time went with career FG% instead of their more current FG %'s.
Russ shot pretty well for his Peak years had a few season where he shot around 44% but isn't his current FG % of 41.7% a bit more accurate considering that he's not really shooting well, finishing great etc?
Again why not go with TS% where it factors in other important aspects like 3pt shooting values and FT attempts and accuracy?
Or even just simplify it more with total Points scored per total attempts?
I also do not like Westbrook's fit, D'Lo seems to fit more on offense and he will appear to show that he actually cares this time when he is looking for a lucrative contract so I would be concern about this guy come the off-season. There are only 3 players that I hate for the Lakers to acquire, and that includes D'Lo along with Lonzo and Porzingis but again he will show promise with the remaining 21 games and possibly the playoffs.

I'm not a fan of watching either of them.

TS% was invented to favor the 3 point shot... FT's are important however. 3 point shooters who can also get to the basked yet settle for 35% shots are not helping the team as much as ones who put pressure on the defense, creating fouls, finishing at the basket etc. The 3 point shot is pretty overrated IMHO. I read a ton of posts about how someone shooting 5-6 3's a game at 38% is so much better than someone shooting the same number is at 34%. People fail to do the math. It's not consequential over a season.

I think the best way to play consistent basketball is to attack and put pressure on teams defense. If an easy 3 arises then so be it but to play for the 3 actually puts less pressure on the defense. Breaking down the perimeter, causing the defense to react off the ball and to push the ball into the paint is what balanced lead guards can do. Westbrook has almost no BBIQ and is all athleticism.... Russell is a close second on the lack of BBIQ but lacks the athleticism and settles to chucking. In the end he's not an upgrade and teams will push their best players on to him in "real" games because he's truly horrible at defense.

[Dmagic]

D LO BETTER MAKE HIS SELF AVAILABLE NOT A GOOD LOOK SO FAR WOW

[So Gutta]

Franchise altering move. Well done, Pelinka!

[yitur]

Wow I can't believe people were down on this trade. Like if we had this roster from the start, at worst with all the injuries included we would've been top 3 in the West. This team fits so well, has flexibility, has room to grow and young legs. Besides Schröder Davis and LeBron, all the other guys on the rotation are 26 years or younger. Vanderbilt's defensive versatility puts LeBron and Davis at their perfect positions defensively. On offense D'Lo and Beasley gives enough shooting threat and spacing for the other players to have room to operate. We now have a halfcourt offense that moves around, cuts, spots up, come off screens, etc.

Davis/Bamba
LeBron/Rui
Vanderbilt/Brown
Beasley/Reaves
D'Lo/Schröder is a great 10 man rotation. Unfortunately we are down to 8 right now. If make it 6th or 7th seed, it would mean we are one of the hottest teams in the West going into playoffs and most of it would be with one of our top 2 players out (1 or 2 depending on reader's perspective), who is still can play like a top 5-10 player in the league at age 38. This team is special. Hope we can keep 90% of it in the summer.