It’s no secret that the Lakers have been mulling trades involving Westbrook for some time now, with multiple reports suggesting that potential deals have been scuttled by the Lakers’ reluctance to include one or both of their available future first-round picks. With Irving off the table, it seemed plausible that the team would enter training camp with Westbrook as the starting point guard. New Lakers coach Darwin Hamm has already discussed a new offensive vision for the former MVP that includes shooting more corner threes. However, the addition of Beverley brings back questions about Westbrook’s future with the Lakers. In fact, with Beverley on the roster, it’s more likely that Westbrook won’t see the court at all for the Lakers next season, according to The Athletic’s Jovan Buha. Westbrook could either be traded or simply walk away from the team. More from The Athletic: “Beverly’s arrival makes it more likely that Westbrook will be off the active roster by the start of training camp, either through a trade or the team that sent him home to the Rockets with John Wall last season, according to a source close to the situation. .” They negotiate, sure. But the John Wall treatment? This is a scenario that hasn’t really been put forward as a realistic possibility. Beverley is a serviceable starting point guard and could potentially add some clout to a Lakers defense that fell from best in the NBA in 2020-21 to 21st last season. Westbrook was one of the worst offensive players in the league last season in terms of efficiency — his .844 points per possession was the second-most of any player with at least 1,000 possessions, according to Synergy Sports — but if he’s willing to accept a new role under Hamm, he potentially provides much more dynamism and offensive firepower than Beverley. That said, projections from SportsLine data scientist Stephen Oh say the Lakers would be significantly better in 2022-23 without Westbrook, even without any pieces coming back in a trade. With Westbrook 45.4 66.1% 8.8% 4.8% Without Westbrook 47.5 76.1% 11.8% 6.3% Difference 2.1 2.6% 3.0% 1.5% “The sims have a long history of seeing Westbrook as a case of addition by subtraction ever since we had OKC improve by several games with Chris Paul and Houston get worse after trading for Westbrook,” Oh explained. The fact that the Lakers would be willing to pay Westbrook $47 million to sit in their house speaks to the deteriorating relationship between the two sides. Obviously, a trade is the preferred option — deals involving Myles Turner and Buddy Hield of the rebuilding Indiana Pacers come to mind — but that would almost certainly require the Lakers to surrender at least one of their future picks, especially after Talen Horton- Tucker, one of their only young assets, went to the Utah Jazz in the Beverley trade. So far the Lakers have been unwilling to compromise their future to get Westbrook off the roster, and now it appears they may be content to eat his salary to keep him off the team. Of course, there’s always the possibility that this report is being planted by the Lakers to make it seem like they’re not as desperate to unload Westbrook as they seem. Only time will tell, but it’s looking increasingly realistic that Westbrook won’t suit up for the Lakers to begin the 2021-22 season.
