“Terrible Mistake By The Lakers”: NBA Twitter Melts Down After LeBron James And Team Made A Crucial Decision Last Minute To Keep Russell Westbrook

Considering the Los Angeles Lakers’ position in the league, a majority of fans expected a trade by the NBA trade deadline. The team started their year with a Russell Westbrook trade with the Washington Wizards, forming a big three of LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Russell Westbrook. The results, however, are not what they expected.

Just in position to qualify for the play-in tournament, a LeBron James-led team were expected to be top title contenders. Naturally, teams looked to acquire Russell Westbrook. But the Lakers were not willing to part ways with the 2017 NBA MVP.

Fans react to the Lakers rejecting a possible Russell Westbrook trade offer

While on Inside the NBA, Chris Haynes started by speaking about the Lakers and their current situation. “It was tough,” Haynes said, adding that everyone knows the Lakers are without many assets. Furthermore, Haynes believes that Talen Horton-Tucker was the only player they could have traded. Unfortunately, there’s no one in his stead that could really benefit the Lakers.

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“The Rockets did reach out to the Lakers to offer John Wall for Russell Westbrook, but they wanted the Lakers to include a first-round pick,” Haynes explained. “The Lakers declined that. So that was the end of that discussion right there”. 

Clearly, fans who were hoping for a better second half were not impressed. However, certain fans did side with their team, pointing out that despite everything, Wall would probably do no good for the Lakers. Loyal fans still do believe in LeBron James and hope that he might be able to turn things around, eventually.

What did annoy a few users was the absence of a minor trade by the team. They believe that while the Lakers refused to part with Westbrook, they could have at least traded a few players to strengthen their roster.

Of course, some are convinced that nothing can be done at this stage. What’s done is done, and the Lakers won’t be able to save their season no matter what they do.

Will the buyout market help the team?

In the end, Haynes added that the team will now focus on the buyout market. Unfortunately, that might not do much to help their standings. While it might help tweak their performance on the court, they won’t be the title team everyone thought they would be.

Having said that, the Lakers are currently placed ninth in the Western Conference with a 26-30 win-loss record.

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Do you think the team should have traded Westbrook? Can James still turn the season around? Let us know in the comments below.