Does LA care?
Following last night’s impressive 112-111 road comeback win against the Indiana Pacers, Los Angeles Lakers fans had one big overwhelming refrain for ownership and the team’s front office: “Trade Russ.”
Russell Westbrook, the club’s $47.1 million sixth man, had a brutal game in the LA victory. The 6’3″ point guard did record a 10-point, 10-assist double-double in 32:09 off the bench, but he scored his 10 points while shooting a miserable 2-of-16 from the field and a fine 6-of-8 from the charity stripe.
In response to an Anthony Davis quote claiming that the Lakers hoped to avoid the play-in tournament this year, fan Kyle Rinker prescribed his recipe for success:
Another astute fan responded that Westbrook recorded more turnovers (four) than field goals (the aforementioned two) last night.
Fan account voted that LA not stop at offloading Westbrook’s expiring money, but also the $13 million contract of 6’1″ starting shooting guard Patrick Beverley. LA could get a ton of solid players for their combined $60.1 million, but of course to do that the team would most likely need to include both of its unprotected future first round draft picks.
Another fan whose name poked fun at team governor Jeanie Buss noted that LA fan Twitter was all-in on dealing Brodie:
One fan voiced their optimism that offloading Westbrook for a high-quality thee-point shooter could help LA contend:
Another fan went straight to the source:
I feel like LA could get better value than this, but what do I know?
Then of course, there were the Tweets Of Few Words:
Etc.:
LA should move Westbrook’s expiring deal for shooting or wing defense. But will it? The team has until February 9th to do so.
