Rockets Talked 2027 Pick Swap With Lakers In Russell Westbrook, John Wall Trade

[RealGM Wiretap]

On a recent episode of The Lowe Post, Zach Lowe opened with a monologue of where the Los Angeles Lakers sit after the trade deadline. Lowe recapped the Lakers non-activity at the deadline, and LeBron James putting Los Angeles on notice with his recent comments at All-Star weekend.

With his opening segment, Lowe also added a new detail about the rumored Russell Westbrook for John Wall swap that the Lakers talked with the Houston Rockets. Previous reporting was that the Rockets were insistent on getting the Lakers 2027 first-round pick to take on Westbrook. Lowe reported that Houston's demands dropped to the right to swap first-round picks in 2027 with trading Wall for Westbrook.

The Lakers weren't interested in doing the deal, even with the lessened demands. That left Los Angeles with their roster as is, as they head into the stretch run of the season.

Via Zach Lowe/ ESPN

[nedleeds]

LeGM has to roll around in the **** he took in the bed by forcing the atrocious Westbrick trade. What a humiliating situation but the guy doesn't have a humble bone in his body so he'll just blame everyone else.

[ozthegap]

Wasn’t much risk in the pick swap imo. Not that wall would have made a huge difference

[FrodoFraggins]

Refusing to let Wall play couldn't really have helped his value.

[The Laker Kid]

Can't wait for this LeDiva to finally leave

[spree2kawhi]

LeGM has to roll around in the **** he took in the bed by forcing the atrocious Westbrick trade. What a humiliating situation but the guy doesn't have a humble bone in his body so he'll just blame everyone else.

This. The Lakers are a mess and someone is getting exposed. This time around, the All-NBA supporting cast doesn’t bring it.

If I was Wade I’d insist that this particular someone actually helped me. After all, Wade has been there before - on his own.

And if I was Westbrook, well, I’d wish no one would ever bring up how I behaved towards Durant when he hopped on that bandwagon.

They probably deserve each other. That’s the first thing I said when the Lakers acquired Russ.

[madmaxmedia]

Wasn’t much risk in the pick swap imo. Not that wall would have made a huge difference

I think the probability of outcomes would be like a standard bell curve, where the 68% fat middle would be slight worse to slightly better resulting in no significant impact to the team.

There's a smaller chance Wall could be significantly better than Westbrook, OTOH if he is significantly worse the Lakers are a play-in level team anyway. So as you say not much risk in the actual players, then it comes down to the pick swap.

2027 is such a long time away, even AD will be off the books (or on a new deal.) Houston has a head start on rebuilding, but Lakers will at the very least have had opportunities to sign significant new players before then. It's hard for me to imaging they will still be bottoming out in 2027.

The other context here is if Lebron is gone in the offseason, who would the Lakers rather have next season- Westbrook or Wall? I think they would rather keep the UCLA alum who is at least somewhat of a known quantity. On a mediocre roster he can still be a high usage player and get you some wins.

[BallerTalk]

Lowe is a little off here.
The swap was the Lakers counter to the Rockets pick demand. Houston balked.

[hyberx]

Let's be serious, the Lakers' management team is silly for kissing LeBaby's bum but they are not exactly dumb. Giving up more assets to swap Russ for John Wall, a guy who can't get traded for anything is not the solution. This season is over for the Lakers even if they traded for Wall. They have no leverage now. LeJumpShip might jump to another team after this, lol.

[CALILIFESTYLE]

Well at least we still got the Rambis’s & Pelinka hard at work. Step 1. Pelinka “Who should we sign LeBron?” Mr. &/ Mrs. Rambis “uh” Step 2. Rebuild