Everyone’s waiting for the Lakers and Nets to pull the trigger on a Kyrie Irving for Russell Westbrook trade. The main question is - how many draft picks will the Lakers attach to Westbrook to make the deal happen? As Brian Windhorst pointed out, the main reason, as it often is with the Lakers, to give in and add their ’27 and ’29 picks could end up being money - and it shouldn’t be.
“There are six Buss children my friend.”
To remind you, the package the Lakers sent for Anthony Davis is still the largest in NBA history. They sent Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart, the no.4 pick in the 2019 draft, and three additional first-round picks to New Orleans.
The Pelicans had their unprotected ’22 pick (which turned out to be no.8 in this year’s Draft), can swap first-round picks with the Lakers in ’23, and have the option of the team’s ’24 or ’25 first-round pick. Given the Stepien rule, they can’t trade their ’26 pick, so the earliest pick the Lakers can trade is the ’27 pick. Again, they can offer a swap in ’28 and straight out trade their ’29 pick.
That’s how absurd the Davis trade package was - it left the Lakers without Draft control until 2027. As we’ve seen with the Warriors, those picks can turn into valuable contributors and a transition into a post-LeBron future. Who knows what the Lakers will look like at the end of the decade.
Giving away your draft capital so far into the future is dangerous stuff. We know LeBron doesn’t care about that; he’ll be running the Las Vegas franchise by then. But why would ownership agree to such a move?
Kyrie Irving makes $11 million less than Russell Westbrook. Given the Lakers are in the tax, that amounts to a lot more to the franchise; around $30 million. Brian Windhorst kept pointing the savings out, and his ESPN colleague Tim Bontemps, slightly annoyed, jumped in, saying” I don’t know why you keep talking about the dollar savings here. The Lakers are desperate.”
“YOU DON’T KNOW WHY I KEEP TALKING ABOUT IT??? Excuse me, my good friend, you know there are six Buss children, and let’s do the math. If you save $30 million dollars that’s an extra $5 million for each Buss child, that matters in L.A. The money matters there, and if you tell the owners you’re gonna save them $30 million, that changes the arithmetic if they’d be willing to include those first-round picks.”
Bontemps came back at Windhorst that the main reason the Lakers should be willing to include first-round is “that Russell Westbrook is a disaster, and Kyrie Irving is way better than him, even with all the baggage.” Windhorst agreed but pointed out that when it comes to the Lakers, the priorities are always the same.