Minnesota Sports Forum

Tactical unit wrote:I think the Lakers trade Westbrook to UTH at some point they can really help out the Lakers.

The Lakers are gonna have to give up something worthwhile to make that happen. Taking on Conley's money for 2023-2024 might help but I think the Jazz are gonna want something more. I think it's unlikely any deal will happen until the guys that the Wolves traded to Utah like Beasley and Beverly can be dealt with other Jazz players. That could be a holdup with several possible deals the Jazz could make even though the Jazz have plenty of expiring salaries to make a deal. It looks like it's 2 months after a trade that players can be aggregated in a trade and NBA.com says the Gobert trade happened July 6. I think the Jazz are gonna try and maximize the worthwhile players they have on their roster. If that means taking some of them into the season they may do that.

Tactical unit wrote:I think the Lakers trade Westbrook to UTH at some point they can really help out the Lakers.

Hard to see a deal for Westbrook that the Jazz would be interested in. The starting premise is that the Jazz are clearly in full rebuild mode. It's only a matter of time before they trade Donovan Mitchell, which will give the Jazz even more draft picks on top of the bevy of picks they're already received from the Wolves. Here's the only conceivable bilateral trade I can come up with that has Westbrook ending up with the Jazz:

Lakers get:
- Conley
- Beverley or Beasley
- Clarkson

Jazz get:
- Westbrook
- Max Christie
- Lakers unprotected 2026 band 2028 1st-round picks
- Lakers 2023 and 2025 2nd-round picks
- 2024 2nd-round picks (least favorable) from Memphis or Washington

That would be a great deal for the Lakers. But I don't think the Jazz would do that deal because they can probably get a better haul overall for those same assets with other teams now or later around the trade deadline. There's no rush for a rebuilding team like the Jazz.

The Lakers really want Kyrie. He's obviously their first choice among potential acquisitions in a deal for Westbrook. Whether a deal between the Nets and Lakers eventually happens depends a lot on what the Nets ultimately to with Durant. Will the Nets just cash in their Durant and Kyrie chips to start a full-scale rebound around Simmons and Claxton? Or will the Nets hold onto Durant and give it another go with him and Kyrie? The Nets could also trade either Durant or Kyrie to bring in win-now talent around the guy player they keep.

If Kyrie ends up with the Lakes he'll probably have a career year and the Lakers will be back in contention if AD stays relatively healthy.

Why would Utah want Westbrook ?

lipoli390 wrote:

Tactical unit wrote:I think the Lakers trade Westbrook to UTH at some point they can really help out the Lakers.

Hard to see a deal for Westbrook that the Jazz would be interested in. The starting premise is that the Jazz are clearly in full rebuild mode. It's only a matter of time before they trade Donovan Mitchell, which will give the Jazz even more draft picks on top of the bevy of picks they're already received from the Wolves. Here's the only conceivable bilateral trade I can come up with that has Westbrook ending up with the Jazz:

Lakers get:
- Conley
- Beverley or Beasley
- Clarkson

Jazz get:
- Westbrook
- Max Christie
- Lakers unprotected 2026 band 2028 1st-round picks
- Lakers 2023 and 2025 2nd-round picks
- 2024 2nd-round picks (least favorable) from Memphis or Washington

That would be a great deal for the Lakers. But I don't think the Jazz would do that deal because they can probably get a better haul overall for those same assets with other teams now or later around the trade deadline. There's no rush for a rebuilding team like the Jazz.

The Lakers really want Kyrie. He's obviously their first choice among potential acquisitions in a deal for Westbrook. Whether a deal between the Nets and Lakers eventually happens depends a lot on what the Nets ultimately to with Durant. Will the Nets just cash in their Durant and Kyrie chips to start a full-scale rebound around Simmons and Claxton? Or will the Nets hold onto Durant and give it another go with him and Kyrie? The Nets could also trade either Durant or Kyrie to bring in win-now talent around the guy player they keep.

If Kyrie ends up with the Lakes he'll probably have a career year and the Lakers will be back in contention if AD stays relatively healthy.

Lip I think that would be a pretty good return for Utah and they should do it unless it keeps them from making another deal especially Involving Donovan Mitchell...which is another reason why a Westbrook deal isn't gonna be done. I don't think Conley has much trade value because of his salary and Utah has a number of guys in that 13 million range teams would like want but they have to send back salary for them which gets tricky.

It would also be interesting to know what teams would have interest if Westbrook was bought out and what Westbrook would be open to. It's hard to imagine that Westbrook and the Jazz would have much interest in him being on the roster in a season they are probably tanking/playing young guys. Ok that's enough about Westbrook. Lol

PorkChop wrote:Why would Utah want Westbrook ?

They don't. It's theoretically all about what the Lakers would send them in terms of assets for trading away players the Lakers would rather have than Westbrook. The Lakers have Lebron signed for 3 total years now they are likely both very motivated to make improvements to the current roster but they might be less likely to make a total desperate deal now that would possibly make an impact for just this season especially if it means they basically couldn't make any future move because they essentially gave up all their future assets.

PorkChop wrote:Why would Utah want Westbrook ?

Utah would get draft picks for taking on Westbrook and sending out players they probably don't care all that much about. Utah could send away lots of combinations of players that would make them worse and tank towards a higher draft pick. 47 million dollars worth of expiring contract which would probably lead to a buyout and if not it really doesn't matter because they don't have to play him if he doesn't want a buyout.

When eligible to be traded Bev, Malik, and Bogdanovic for Westbrook would match salary and improve the Lakers quite a bit while also helping Utah at the same time in pursuit of a higher draft pick by getting worse and not hurting the cap to do so. There are many combonations that could work depending on what the Lakers want back, Conley, Bogdanovic, Bev, Malik, Clarkson, R. Gay, V8, really feels like a no brainer to me for both sides.

It's a decent thought, but I would be surprised if no other team outbid the Lakers for those more attractive complimentary pieces from the Jazz. Keep in mind that Utah got a first-round pick this off-season for Royce O'Neal alone.

Camden wrote:It's a decent thought, but I would be surprised if no other team outbid the Lakers for those more attractive complimentary pieces from the Jazz. Keep in mind that Utah got a first-round pick this off-season for Royce O'Neal alone.

That was my thinking, Cam.

lipoli390 wrote:

Camden wrote:It's a decent thought, but I would be surprised if no other team outbid the Lakers for those more attractive complimentary pieces from the Jazz. Keep in mind that Utah got a first-round pick this off-season for Royce O'Neal alone.

That was my thinking, Cam.

A difference is that Royce is signed for 2 more seasons for less than the mid-level (low cost and easier to fit into a trade) and he is an excellent complimentary player that's a 2-way guy that's either a solid starter around a bunch of good players or high level bench guy. The Jazz do have useful players and teams will want them but salary matching is going to be difficult and that's gonna affect the value for those players.

I'll just say that Westbrook seems undervalued to me. No, he's not worth his $40+ million salary, but he's still a triple-double PG. If the Nets can swap Kyrie for him and also get the Lakers 2026 and 2028 first round picks unprotected, they should do the deal in my view - reuniting Durant and Westbrook. I wonder what Durant would think of that. :)