The Athletic’s Bob Kravitz provides the latest chatter on the Lakers potential making a blockbuster Russell Westbrook trade with the Pacers.
The NBA regular season is months away, but two things are clear: the Lakers need more three-point shooting and the organization is continuing to explore Russell Westbrook trades. Most of the speculation has been centered around the Lakers making a three-team trade to land Nets guard Kyrie Irving and ship Westbrook out of LA, but there’s also been numerous reports about the Lakers exploring trade possibilities with the Pacers.
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However, as of Friday morning, it appears that there’s little traction at the moment on a potential trade with the Pacers involving Russell Westbrook according to The Athletic’s Bob Kravitz.
Similar to the Nets-Kyrie Irving trade negotiations, draft compensation from the Lakers continues to be a stumbling block in any potential deal. Kravitz infers that the Lakers are currently willing to include one future first-round pick, not two, which is consistent with the vast majority of trade rumor reporting involving LA.
Pacers guard Buddy Hield, the player the Lakers famously almost traded for last summer before acquiring Westbrook, would quickly become LA’s best three-point shooter and would be a seamless fit alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
Indiana seems to be open to the idea of getting out underneath of Hield’s extension that the Pacers inherited from the Tyrese Haliburton-Domatis Sabonis deal. Hield is owed over $40M over the next two years.
Like Westbrook, center Myles Turner is on an expiring contract ($18M) and Indiana has been shopping him for years.
A potential Pacers-Lakers trade would pay dividends for both teams, but at the moment, LA isn’t willing to pay up to make a deal happen.
