On April 10, Beijing time, the Lakers experienced a disappointing season, and the Purple and Gold Army led by the big three could not even enter the playoffs, refreshing people's cognition. For such a result, many people pointed the finger at Wei Shao, believing that he was the culprit of the team's early end of the season' journey, and Vogel even publicly stated that once either James or one of the thick eyebrows was absent, Wei Shao could not lead the team to victory. Obviously, the Lakers missed the playoffs, and Westbrook does have an unshirkable responsibility.
But if all the responsibility is attributed to him, it is inevitable that it is a bit far-fetched, the Lakers' problem this season is all-round, first of all, the defensive problem, whether it is individual defense, overall defense or conversion defense, the Lakers' performance this season is not satisfactory; secondly, the lack of outside shooters, for breakthrough experts such as James and Westbrook, there must be a player who can shoot, or eat cake, unfortunately, the Lakers can not find a pure shooter, or a center like Capela.
Finally, there is the problem of age, injury and lineup, the overall age of the Lakers at the beginning of the season is older, and the lineup changes are too frequent throughout the season, and there are trades in the middle of the season, constantly signing people, resulting in a lack of chemistry between players and mutual distrust. For the Lakers, the most important thing in the offseason is to quickly deal with Wei Shao's contract, and it turns out that he and James's playing style really don't match, and they can't integrate into the team's system.
Recently, some media claimed that the Hornets owner Michael Jordan is very interested in Westbrook, in this regard, the US media "NBATalk" listed a set of 3-for-1 trading plan, in this set of plans, the Lakers sent Westbrook, the Hornets sent Hayward, Rozier and 1 first-round pick. Next season, Hayvog and Rozier add up a total of 51 million annual salaries, Westbrook is 47 million, the Hornets hitch a first-round pick, from the chip point of view, the Lakers are earned, but Pelinka may have to pay an extra luxury tax.
Rozier has averaged 19.2 points, 4.3 rebounds and 4.4 assists this season, shooting 44.2 percent from the field and 37.2 percent from three-point range, Hayward 15.9 points, 4.6 rebounds, 3.6 assists from the field, 45.9 percent from the field, 39.1 percent from three-point range, and Westbrook with 18.5 points, 7.4 rebounds, 7.1 assists, and 44.4 percent from the field. The Hornets are tenth in the East this season, and although they have caught the last train of the playoffs, the probability of entering the playoffs is very low, and for Jordan, the addition of Westbrook may be able to change this deadlock and lead the team into the playoffs, after all, he has proved his worth when he was a Wizard, and when he let go, it is not impossible to average three doubles per game.
For the Lakers, there are two major advantages to completing this deal, the first is that Rozier is relatively young and is in the ascendancy of his career, the Lakers just lack a point guard, and Rochel's arrival will strengthen this shortcoming; second, Hayward can serve as a substitute for James, enriching the team's bench depth. If the deal is made, Hayward will team up with James to win the championship and Rozier will parachute into Los Angeles.