“No Need To Trade Your Second Best Player”: NBA Fans Left Scratching Their Heads As LeBron James’ Lakers Take a Major Call on 9x All Star’s Future, As per Rumors

The Los Angeles Lakers’ misery continued with the misfortunes of last season as they began the 2022-23 season with a 2-10 record. However, it seems like three consecutive victories recently have turned things around for the Lakers a little bit. LeBron James and co. had some serious reservations about Russell Westbrook last season. In fact, the LA team had been pushing for a possible trade for the nine-time All-Star throughout the offseason with no fruitful results. However, recent rumors regarding a major call about Westbrook’s future have left NBA fans scratching their heads.

The new Lakers head coach Dravin Ham gave Westbrook a different responsibility at the start of the 2022-23 season. The Lakers guard was asked to come off the bench this season and there has been a promising improvement in his numbers since then. While Westbrook is averaging 15.4 points with 5.4 rebounds and 7.7 assists per game, his shooting has improved to 40.6% from the field and 33.3% from beyond the arc.

LeBron James & co. to keep Russell Westbrook?

Russell Westbrook is currently shooting more three-pointers with a pretty decent conversion rate and his assists have also increased significantly this year. In fact, a recent report revealed that Russ is, statistically speaking, the best shooter for the Lakers from deep.

Therefore, several rival NBA executives believe that the Lakers might keep Westbrook on the roster if he continues to perform well off the bench. As per HoopsHype, “Some executives believe the Lakers will stand pat and ride out the Westbrook experiment if he continues to produce off the bench.”

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LeBron James‘ Lakers have been reportedly eyeing a trade deal involving Westbrook with the Indiana Pacers in exchange for Myles Turner and Buddy Hield. However, LA might have to give up on one of their first-round picks from 2027 or 2029 in order to make the deal happen. Thus, it seems likely that the Lakers would take a risk with Westbrook this season instead of trading him away.

Fans seem to be puzzled by rumored Westbrook trade decision

The recent rumors about LeBron James and the Lakers’ trust in Westbrook was surprising to many fans. The franchise had openly negotiated several prospects for a possible deal during the off-season. Thus, the recent take on Westbrook has left the fans puzzled.

Westbrook has been a constant target for the LA media and fans for a long time. He was blamed for the most part for the embarrassing last season of the LeBron James-led Lakers. However, with his recent form, the Lakers fans seem to have mixed reactions on the issue of keeping Russell Westbrook. Here are some of the reactions from the fans.

Westbrook’s recent form has earned him support from the fans, raising chatters about the sixth man of the year award. On the other hand, many have raised concerns about his exorbitant salary outweighing his contributions on the court.

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Hopefully, he will continue to get better and push the LeBron James-led Lakers towards the playoffs this time around.