Will the Lakers find a Fool, and if so, Which Team?

[Jammer]

The Lakers can bring in a number of players from various teams (Utah, Indiana) simply by shipping out Russell Westbrook's $47 Million salary to anyone who'd take it. Taking on that much dead money is worth 2 Unprotected 1rst Rounders. The Lakers will angle to put protections in, similar to when they had three #2 picks in a row (Lonzo Ball, DeAngelo Russell, Brandon Ingram) that didn't convey due to protection. They just need a team to let them put protection on the picks, so if they are really bad in 2027 and 2029, they keep the picks or they convert to 2nd Rounders.

The obvious candidates to play the fool (if they can find one) are:

Herb Simon, Indiana (could send Buddy Hield and Myles Turner)
Greg Popovich, San Antonio ($21 Million under MINIMUM TEAM salary with 12 players signed, and 50 Million below luxury tax).
Danny Ainge, Utah (could send Patrick Beverly, Malik Beasley and Bojan Bogdanovic for 2 unprotected picks + $1M salary reduction)

If the Lakers decide to bring talent in by moving Westbrook, will any of the above teams cave and do a deal with protections. Doesn't make sense to me, but I'm certain that's the type of deal that the Lakers are looking for.

[Lockdown504090]

i dont think any team would be a fool to get back the 2027 and 2029 la unprotected if theyre willing to give it up. Tbh LA the fools , they could have had joe harris and kyrie for a bum and two picks.

[Lockdown504090]

i dont think any team would be a fool to get back the 2027 and 2029 la unprotected if theyre willing to give it up. Tbh LA the fools , they could have had joe harris and kyrie for a bum and two picks.

[Ruma85]

The Lakers can bring in a number of players from various teams (Utah, Indiana) simply by shipping out Russell Westbrook's $47 Million salary to anyone who'd take it. Taking on that much dead money is worth 2 Unprotected 1rst Rounders. The Lakers will angle to put protections in, similar to when they had three #2 picks in a row (Lonzo Ball, DeAngelo Russell, Brandon Ingram) that didn't convey due to protection. They just need a team to let them put protection on the picks, so if they are really bad in 2027 and 2029, they keep the picks or they convert to 2nd Rounders.

The obvious candidates to play the fool (if they can find one) are:

Herb Simon, Indiana (could send Buddy Hield and Myles Turner)
Greg Popovich, San Antonio ($21 Million under MINIMUM TEAM salary with 12 players signed, and 50 Million below luxury tax).
Danny Ainge, Utah (could send Patrick Beverly, Malik Beasley and Bojan Bogdanovic for 2 unprotected picks + $1M salary reduction)

If the Lakers decide to bring talent in by moving Westbrook, will any of the above teams cave and do a deal with protections. Doesn't make sense to me, but I'm certain that's the type of deal that the Lakers are looking for.

Out of those 3 i would take utah, when your referring the term fool, are you saying this because of westbrook or the fact some team will let them put protections on those picks.

[Ruma85]

i dont think any team would be a fool to get back the 2027 and 2029 la unprotected if theyre willing to give it up. Tbh LA the fools , they could have had joe harris and kyrie for a bum and two picks.

Westbrook is certainly not a bum, his contract is big.

[dirkforpres]

If it meant getting rid of Davis Bertans, I’d be more than happy for Nico Harrison to “play the fool”

[Mak]

If it meant getting rid of Davis Bertans, I’d be more than happy for Nico Harrison to “play the fool”

Bertrand is making 16m where is the other 30 coming from?

[NO-KG-AI]

I love how in every thread, a Laker fan proposes a trade where the Lakers get all the best players involved, everyone else gets bent over, and the Laker fans all reply to it with "Great trade for everyone involved" Like they're doing everyone a favor to send them Westbrook and a pick from a year where LeBron's son will be older than Luka Doncic is right now.

[facothomas22]

No team will be fooled into taking Westbrook and 2 meaningless 1st rounds picks that are years in the future, while giving up useful players in return. The only people that the Lakers Front Office are fooling are the Lakers Fanbase, who are delusional enough to think they will be able to flip Westbrook into good players without giving up more 1st round picks than what they can afford. I see basically no chance that Westbrook will be traded at all this season simply because he has no use in the NBA anymore and has one of the worst contracts in NBA history.

[Jammer]

The Lakers can bring in a number of players from various teams (Utah, Indiana) simply by shipping out Russell Westbrook's $47 Million salary to anyone who'd take it. Taking on that much dead money is worth 2 Unprotected 1rst Rounders. The Lakers will angle to put protections in, similar to when they had three #2 picks in a row (Lonzo Ball, DeAngelo Russell, Brandon Ingram) that didn't convey due to protection. They just need a team to let them put protection on the picks, so if they are really bad in 2027 and 2029, they keep the picks or they convert to 2nd Rounders.

The obvious candidates to play the fool (if they can find one) are:

Herb Simon, Indiana (could send Buddy Hield and Myles Turner)
Greg Popovich, San Antonio ($21 Million under MINIMUM TEAM salary with 12 players signed, and 50 Million below luxury tax).
Danny Ainge, Utah (could send Patrick Beverly, Malik Beasley and Bojan Bogdanovic for 2 unprotected picks + $1M salary reduction)

If the Lakers decide to bring talent in by moving Westbrook, will any of the above teams cave and do a deal with protections. Doesn't make sense to me, but I'm certain that's the type of deal that the Lakers are looking for.

Out of those 3 i would take utah, when your referring the term fool, are you saying this because of westbrook or the fact some team will let them put protections on those picks.

The Fool reference is if a team let's protections in. If Indiana sends out Myles Turner and Buddy Hield to the Lakers with protections, even top 1, the pick doesn't convey. I think when the Lakers had the three #2 picks in a row they had Top 4 protection (Brandon Ingram, DeAngelo Russell and Lonzo Ball). So it's strictly will someone be stupid enough to do the deal with protections, and if so, who??

Supposedly the Lakers would do the deal if they could put some protections in, but rumor to date is that teams want unprotected picks. Maybe some of these front offices actually remember how the Lakers got away with one when they had Top 4 protection on those picks that landed them Ingram, Russell and Ball. They really sucked those 3 years, and didn't have to convey the picks.

[Lockdown504090]

i dont think any team would be a fool to get back the 2027 and 2029 la unprotected if theyre willing to give it up. Tbh LA the fools , they could have had joe harris and kyrie for a bum and two picks.

Westbrook is certainly not a bum, his contract is big.

its not hard to make that the argument he hasnt been league average at anythign since he left the rockets, and even then they really built a system around his weaknesses, likely to the detriment of the team's playoff viability.

[Ruma85]

i dont think any team would be a fool to get back the 2027 and 2029 la unprotected if theyre willing to give it up. Tbh LA the fools , they could have had joe harris and kyrie for a bum and two picks.

Westbrook is certainly not a bum, his contract is big.

its not hard to make that the argument he hasnt been league average at anythign since he left the rockets, and even then they really built a system around his weaknesses, likely to the detriment of the team's playoff viability.

He was pretty good in Washington & Had 18,7,7 with 45% from the field last season.

[Lockdown504090]

Westbrook is certainly not a bum, his contract is big.

its not hard to make that the argument he hasnt been league average at anythign since he left the rockets, and even then they really built a system around his weaknesses, likely to the detriment of the team's playoff viability.

He was pretty good in Washington & Had 18,7,7 with 45% from the field last season.

high volume terrible efficency, too many turnovers, still did nothing well, just used up lots of possessions so worse players didnt.

[jasonxxx102]

No and can we please not keep asking the same question over and over again?

[levon]

Taking on an expiring 47m is worth two unprotected first rounders? Show me one example in history of that.

[KnicksGadfly]

I am willing to be a fool and give up Randle for the expiring and picks!

[levon]

I am willing to be a fool and give up Randle for the expiring and picks!

According to OP it costs 2 firsts to unload Westbrook's contract, so it's going to cost you roughly 4 unprotected firsts to unload Randle's.

[Kilroy]

As a Laker fan, am I the only one who has the overwhelming urge to respond to post like this simply with 'Your Mom"....

[jasonxxx102]

I am willing to be a fool and give up Randle for the expiring and picks!

According to OP it costs 2 firsts to unload Westbrook's contract, so it's going to cost you roughly 4 unprotected firsts to unload Randle's.

Why on earth would anyone take WB for less than that? There’s absolutely no reason and almost no one who even could

[Ruma85]

its not hard to make that the argument he hasnt been league average at anythign since he left the rockets, and even then they really built a system around his weaknesses, likely to the detriment of the team's playoff viability.

He was pretty good in Washington & Had 18,7,7 with 45% from the field last season.

high volume terrible efficency, too many turnovers, still did nothing well, just used up lots of possessions so worse players didnt.

Kobe averaged 25.5.5 for his career with 45 % is he all that too, i swear people don’t watch games.