OK, here it is. Funny in that I had started this prior to the podcast where Marc Stein floated the same theory. Scary because that means there is more than a kernel of truth. Sad because this is the current state of Laker Nation. We have reached the Waiting on Kyrie Zone.

1. Don’t get it wrong, this ain’t no miracle for the Lakers or their fans. This is, in my opinion, bringing a player less reliable than Russell is. Oh, it’s Thursday before a lobster boil in Kansas? Sorry guys, can’t make the game. Random social justice cause that I can Tweet about but actually do very little? Gonna need a week of personal time with full pay to get through it. The Earth is flat, nah just kidding I know it’s round I just use my platform for bullshyte. That is the maturity and character of the person the Lakers now seem to be focusing far too much attention on. Give me Russ over Kyrie all day, every day from now until the end of time. Kyrie is a joke, not a serious basketball player.
2. Ok, ok, got that outta my system…kinda. On the court Irving is a far superior fit alongside AD and LeBron than Russ is. Kyrie can shoot, is as able a distributor and has maybe the best handle in the game today. It’s the baggage…so very much baggage. It threatens to suck anything that comes into it’s orbit into an absurdist pit of wackiness without end. You want to challenge your new coach? Throw that mess on his plate and walk away.
3. Ok, ok…ok. Now I really have gotten that out of my system. There aren’t many paths for Irving to become a Laker. The first is the least likely which is straight trade with the Nets. Russ at $47,063,478 and Kyrie at $36,503,300 means there is too large a gap and the Nets have to send another player or few. Seth Curry at $8,496,653 just about does it and certainly does if you throw in Kessler (who?) Edwards at $1,563,518. There are other permutations that can be juggled but the real issue is the Nets have signaled they do not want anything to do with Westbrook. This route feels DOA.
4. Multi team trade. What this really should read is three team trade with OKC, Brooklyn and LA. No other team has the cap space or the inclination to hoard draft picks like the Thunder do. Are there other teams with the requisite cap space, or clearable cap space? Sure, but those aren’t realistic options, IMO. Real hard for me seeing OKC doing the Lakers a favor, of course the cost would be the last two tradeable draft picks in our stockpile, maybe Reaves to boot. The one thing this path would do is open up the door to adding THT and Nunn into the deal and getting below the tax apron thus opening up better spending tools. Still, hard for me to see this one happening in so short of time.
5. Everyone’s dream team. Irving opts out and signs with LA for the MLE. Big 4 of Russ, Kyrie, LeBron and AD. The stuff nightmares are made of. For Laker fans. Who would get the ball? Who would be the worst defender? How often would Kyrie play when paid so little? Still, in all reality, this path seems the most likely to me for Irving to wind up in the purple and gold. The fit would be…interesting. Certainly would give the Lakers another ball handler and some shooting to maybe open up the floor a little but it really just looks and feels like too many cooks in the kitchen. Unless it’s a race to see who plays in fewer games: Davis or Irving (Irving would get my bet).

All in all, it’s a small chance but a real one. No GM is likely to want to do either Kyrie or the Lakers any favors. The Lakers would be insane if they gave Kyrie a multi-year extension since it’s all but guaranteed he’ll miss large portions of every season (currently averaging 55 games/season and at 30 years old he won’t be getting any healthier), at least without a trial season on the MLE…where he will likely miss a boatload of games to pout about how little he is being paid. The talent is undeniable, and so is the petulant attitude and lack of seriousness when it comes to being a pro athlete. He should come with a warning: buyer beware, player likely to throw a pique and be out of contact for stretches of the season. But it is the Lakers so anything is possible.

As we near the first domino of what will eventually become next season I got to thinking about whom the Lakers could trying to buy a draft pick from. They have a small amount of cash in the form of Marc Gasol’s trade exception so they can entice some teams to part with a 2nd rounder, maybe, likely to be a pick late in that round.

2nd Round:

31. Indiana (from Houston via Cleveland)
32. Orlando
33. Toronto (from Detroit via San Antonio, Washington and Chicago)
34. Oklahoma City
35. Orlando (from Indiana via Milwaukee)
36. Portland
37. Sacramento
38. San Antonio (from Los Angeles Lakers via Chicago and Washington)
39. Cleveland (from San Antonio via Utah)
40. Minnesota (from Washington via Cleveland)
41. New Orleans
42. New York
43. LA Clippers
44. Atlanta
45. Charlotte
46. Detroit (from Brooklyn)
47. Memphis (from Cleveland via New Orleans and Atlanta)
48. Minnesota
49. Sacramento (from Chicago via Memphis and Detroit)
50. Minnesota (from Denver via Philadelphia)
51. Golden State (from Toronto via Philadelphia)
52. New Orleans (from Utah)
53. Boston
— Milwaukee (forfeited)
— Miami (from Philadelphia via Denver; forfeited by Miami)
54. Washington (from Dallas)
55. Golden State
56. Cleveland (from Miami via Indiana)
57. Portland (from Memphis via Utah)
58. Indiana (from Phoenix)

The earliest pick I can imagine being for sale is Charlotte’s and only because MJ is a legendary spendthrift. Even that seems pretty far-fetched, though, as you can cut a player drafted in the second round with no cap impact. They don’t get any kind of guaranteed money so why not make the pick, bring ’em into camp, and if they don’t jive cut them then. Still, the 45th pick is as high as I see the Lakers being able to buy.

More likely is one of Golden State’s 2 picks (51 and 55). They have a fairly well-defined roster and are reported to be open to the idea of retaining most of it regardless of cost. Again, always a lofty sentiment but let’s assume for the moment that they do plan on bringing as many players back as they can. While cheap, 2nd round draft picks do ultimately have to get signed to a contract and those will be taken into account regarding the ever-ballooning luxury tax that the Warriors know is coming their way.

So if I had to guess mine would be the 55st pick in the Draft for the low-low price of $2.7 mil.

The NBA is entering the home stretch of the 2021-22 season and Laker fans have all but tuned out the games as they had been riveted first by a coaching search (now complete and welcome to the dumpster fire Coach Ham!) and now by the ponderous and burdensome search for a palatable trade for one Russell Westbrook. What tastes good to fans seemingly isn’t acceptable to Rob Pelinka and the Laker ownership cabal. With the news coming from the internet that the Lakers are unwilling to attach future draft considerations to a Westbrook trade, Russ signaling his enthusiasm for Ham’s hiring, and the tepid market for Westbrook in general it would seem the Lakers are headed towards a second season of our version of a Big Three. So, while this writer has long been of the opinion there was a decent to good chance that Russ would continue his career in the purple and gold, I wanted to look at some things that just might change the equation for trading Russ.

1. The Lakers move off their current and alleged stance of no future draft considerations attached in a deal for Westbrook. While this may seem the obvious choice to some it’s not a reach to understand where Rob is coming from in publicly declaring such a stance. First off, the term “news flash” does not apply to anything related to the Lakers wanting to move off the Westbrook contract and improve the roster or at least make a decent lateral move. File that one under “No Doy, Man”. So Rob could be deploying an absurd stratagem of “Nuh-Uh, Dude, we WANT to keep Russ, like, fer sure, man!!!!” because like any desperate gambler you have to at least try a bluff when you’re down in chips, short on assets and daylight is creeping into the room signaling that tomorrow has arrived. I actually think Rob is serious when he says he’d rather ride it out. There are quite a few benefits the most obvious being that if the three core players can play more the team will perform better. Russell will be an unrestricted free agent next season and could either be retained on a team-friendly extension or seek employment elsewhere thus freeing up a plethora of cap space to rebuild the roster. Again. For the third time since winning a title.
2. Damien Lillard demands a trade. This is one of the things that I could see severely altering the NBA landscape. If Dame Time decides he wants no part of a Portland rebuild it’s easy to see a plethora of teams looking to get in on that action. While I don’t think the Lakers have an attractive trade package to offer Portland they could potentially get in on a multiteam deal that facilitates Russ being moved elsewhere. Trading for Dame would probably take better draft assets than we currently have. Could the Lakers up the ante and look to include THT, Nunn, Reaves, Johnson, Gabriel both draft picks and bring back Lillard and Bledsoe? Honestly…I’m not sure I would make that deal…but that is the kind of thing that could potentially alter the equation for a Westbrook trade.
3. Donovan Mitchell demands a trade. With the news that Quinn Snyder has walked away from his coaching gig in Utah came the not really surprising news that Donovan Mitchell is uneasy with the direction of the franchise and is seeking some form of re-assurement. If he doesn’t get that it’s possible he could demand a trade. Like Damien this has the potential to shift the NBA landscape. While it would make a lot more sense for the Jazz to try and move Gobert let’s assume for the sake of this article that Spida is adamant about changing teams. If so the Lakers could be in the position of trading Russ, the draft picks and Nunn (should he opt in) for Spida, Clarkson and Gay which would be the kind of cap space that would allow Utah to revamp the roster. Again, the issue with that kind of trade is that Utah isn’t really a destination franchise, especially with a star player asking out, a coach walking away, and, well, Utah. So it’s hard for one to imagine a bevy of free agents going there but you never know. Ainge could be in a place where he’s excited about a total rebuild and while this trade is short on draft assets it does get three large money players off the book and give Utah a ton of flexibility to either tear it down more by trading Rudy.
4. Utah looks to appease Spida by trading Rudy Gobert and Rudy Gay. Had Coach Snyder stayed in Utah I really wouldn’t see this happening. Donovan and Rudy have had their differences, ironed them out, and more differences came up. While adding Russell to Utah’s roster without moving Mike Conley doesn’t make a ton of sense they could pursue a separate Conley trade elsewhere. Russ for Rudy squared works in the trade machine and, in theory, Utah might not ask for a pick to get it done in order to keep Mitchell happy. There are few centers with the defensive acumen that Gobert has. While assuredly not a stretch five does it really matter? You allow AD to play the 4 for the next 4 years left on Gobert’s deal, you have the lob threat LeBron loves to work with and as elite a defender as you can find in the NBA. You can bench him in the playoffs and go small without worry because you have Davis on the roster. While not the NBA altering deal the above are this one is a little easier to imagine going through given the news out of Utah.
5. Zach LaVine pulls an AD. This one, in my opinion, is dream fodder. LaVine isn’t the talent AD was, Chicago ain’t the Pelicans in terms of calling a bluff, and LaVine will find a dry market when it comes to major franchises. Cap space is low across the league and the pool of talent is small. So, unless Zach has an itch for max money in OKC his best shot is to stay right where he is. But, again, for the sake of the article if Zach and Klutch did try and maneuver him to LA in a S&T that’s really the last option I see the Lakers having in terms of a realistic Russ trade that also opens the door back to contention.

In my opinion it will take a superstar demanding to move that represents a clear improvement to the team for Rob to move off his draft pick stance. I can still see them trading for John Wall straight up or even maybe Gordon Hayward and some junk but neither of those gets the team to the NBA Finals again. Who knows what Wall has left and Hayward is the small forward version of Davis: solid when healthy but can’t be counted on to be available when they’re needed most, or at all. For my part I’d rather keep Russ than trade for a broken player or one like Wall who’s skillset largely mirrors Westbrook’s but hasn’t played in what will be just under two years when next season rolls around. You don’t get better that way, you just get older. After that I doubt there’s much interest from team’s that made the playoffs this season or had down years like Atlanta and New York. A Russ trade is one that signals a full rebuild, or as close as you get to one, and neither of those teams are i that position. They’re looking for improvements on the margin, little tweaks to the roster not wholesale tear-downs. That is the issue with the size of Russ’s deal: there just aren’t many teams looking for that level of restructuring this summer. The playin and lottery tweaks have made the league tilt towards wanting to be competitive all season long since your draft odds don’t dramatically shift with losing. We’ve already seen how teams in the playin one season can ascend to really competitive the following one in Memphis, how chemistry builds a winner in Milwaukee, and the fact is Russ isn’t the kind of player that alters your trajectory at this point. So my advice to you is invest in trade hopes and dreams but you should also buckle up and prepare yourself to ride this out with Russ on the roster.

Sounds like Russ is on board with Darvin’s hiring! Great news lol