With the deepening of the season, the team with the strength to win the championship began to make a reinforcement plan, the regular season schedule has passed a quarter, and the shortcomings of the lineups of each team have been exposed, which has also reached the time when the team has adjusted the plan behind, and today the teams are full of trade rumors, and as the most eye-catching team this season, the Lakers, there are naturally some trading rumors. From the moment Westbrook came to the Lakers, he was saddled with too much, when ESPN rated the deal D, and Westbrook did expose the problems that many people had worried about before the Lakers, and he and James were not compatible. Especially at the beginning of the season, Wei Shao frequently played iron, made mistakes continuously, lost the authority of the ball less effectively, and was often let go by the defenders, and the Lakers' big three combination did not achieve the expected effect, which also made Wei Shao fall into the center of trading rumors.
The mismatch between Westbrook and James has led to the discomfort of both of them, and Westbrook has a salary of 44 million this season, ranking third in the league, behind Curry and Harden, but Westbrook's role on the court is not as useful as that of Anthony and Munch with basic salaries. Alliance sources revealed that because the combination of the big three is not as effective as expected, the Lakers have been discussed within the Russell-Westbrook transaction, and the Lakers' trading targets are mainly the Cavaliers, 76ers, Pacers, and Pistons. Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio's salaries match Westbrook's, but according to league sources, the Cavaliers are less interested in this deal structure and the two teams have not discussed it, and the Lakers are interested in the 76ers guard Ben Simmons trade, and the only person in the Lakers' squad besides LeBron James and Anthony Davis who can match Simmons in salary is Westbrook. Even so, according to league sources, Westbrook is not one of the players the 76ers are eager to get a return from the Simmons deal, and their deal discussions with the Lakers have never developed deeply.
Executives of other teams believe that only Taren Horton Tucker and Kendrick Nunn are the real transaction value of the Lakers' role players whose salary exceeds the base salary, and Westbrook's performance this season is also seen by other teams, and it is true that the value of Westbrook's transaction is not high now. Although Wei Shao can still get an average of 19.5 points, 7.7 rebounds, 8.4 assists and 1.2 steals per game this season, Wei Shao has averaged 4.6 errors per game, ranking second in the league, and the data does not truly reflect Wei Shao's current strength, this data is indeed quite good at first glance, but in fact, Wei Shao's threat on the field is far less than before, mainly due to several major injuries and age, and the athletic ability that Wei Shao once relied on to survive has declined too much. It is okay to see that Wei Shao's game has broken through people now, but in the face of the empty basket in front of Wei Shao, he always feels that jumping up a little bit, if he puts it in the past, Wei Shao's flying up is a violent buckle, and now Wei Shao can't jump up.
The decline in athletic ability has led to Wei Shao now it is difficult to quickly break through to the inner line, before Wei Shao did not shoot nor was not allowed, but no one dared to easily empty Wei Shao, once not in front of Wei Shao, Wei Shao received the ball directly to the end of the inner line dunk, and after breaking through to the inside line to attract the bag clip, Wei Shao can also throw the ball out, ended by the pitcher's three points. Although Wei Shao's previous shooting was not allowed, but a one-handed distance to play the board jump shot is also a one-handed kill, now Wei Shao does not know what is wrong, there is really no bit of shooting grasp, and this season Wei Shao is more and more unconfident. In order to adapt to James and Davis, Westbrook also made a lot of sacrifices, in order to reduce mistakes at key moments Westbrook was willing to give up the ball, in order to make James more conducive to playing on the offensive end, Westbrook was willing to play a pitcher role. Recently, the combination of Westbrook and Zhan Mei has also gradually become skilled, and there have been some games when the duo of Westbrook and James has begun to show their power, and in the time of 1 minute and 39 seconds against the Cavaliers, LeBron James and Russell Westbrook have shown that they can become the team's dual core brain.
I just don't know what kind of idea the Lakers are, it is hard to run into each other a little eyebrows, this time I have to send Wei Shao away with my backhand, I already know this, why should I do it in the first place? If the Lakers do not choose Westbrook in the offseason but choose Bud Hield, the Lakers can not only get a three-point shooter who is one of the best in production and quantity, the most important thing is that Caruso may have money to stay, and the current outside defense will not be such a headache, and now the Lakers know that they regret it and want Wei Shao to trade other All-Star level players, but they are afraid that it is easy to ask God to send God. In addition, the Lakers are ready to trade the object, although Simmons is a younger and better defensive player, but Simmons is still uncomfortable than Westwood's shooting, not to mention the shooting rate of Westbrook at least three points dare to shoot, Simmons this player stands on the three-point line and even does not bother to raise his hand, now a total of 5 seasons, Simmons has shot a total of 5 three-pointers, and Simmons' offensive desire and vitality is less than one-tenth of Westbrook's.
Just a Westbrook who doesn't have three points now has made the Lakers' space jam into what it is, and then trade a Simmons, the good guy can directly shrink five people to the three-second zone, and there is no need to stand on the three-point line. In addition, the appetite of the 76ers management is so big that no one knows who does not know, and the Lakers' existing chips do not enter the eyes of the 76ers, so this transaction is also the Lakers' unilateral imagination. In addition, I don't know what the Lakers management thinks, I know that I am cleaner than my face, there will be such a rumor, which is not friendly to the lakers' internal unity at this stage, Wei Shao is an extremely emotional player, and this rumor is likely to have a certain impact on the state of Wei Shao, in addition, this time in fact, the Lakers lineup also has a certain prototype, there is no need to make substantial adjustments to the lineup.
Trade to Westbrook is not just for the next season, James is almost 37 years old, the Lakers want to remain competitive in the future, then it is necessary to find a team to hold the ball core, in order to be necessarily to Westbrook + Davis as the core, if in order to adapt to the lineup this season to trade Westbrook, then the future Lakers need to spend a lot of energy to rebuild the team. No team has ever been able to achieve results in a turbulent environment, so instead of thinking of some impossible rumors now, it is better to study how the combination of Westbrook and James can exert its maximum power.