A New Big 3 in Town?
With so much uncertainty coming into the new NBA season after suffering a first-round exit just a season removed from winning the NBA Championship the Los Angeles Lakers brass decided to make a massive splash in the offseason by acquiring former MVP point guard Russell Westbrook.
The Lakers and Wizards have agreed on the trade for Russell Westbrook, sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 30, 2021
This deal for Westbrook was finalized hours after it was reported by ESPN’s Senior NBA Insider Adrian Wojnarowski that the Lakers were going to make a move for Sacramento Kings guard Buddy Hield.
Adding a shooter like Heild to this squad would have been great, considering the team was 23rd in the association in three-point shooting during the regular season. However, adding a player the caliber of Westbrook will surely bolster their roster as they intend to make another title run before the seemingly endless prime of LeBron James.
The inner workings of the deal included the Lakers giving up Kyle Kuzma, Montrez Harrell, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and a 2021 first-round selection.
In the grand scheme of things, it isn’t a lot for a player of that magnitude to join your team. Two years prior, the Lakers made a similar deal with the Pelicans to acquire Anthony Davis.
This move-in fact makes them the title favorites in the eyes of some as they have equaled the team on the other coast, the Brooklyn Nets.
The Nets have arguably the strongest big three amongst the entire NBA as they employ All-Stars Kyrie Irving, James Harden and Kevin Durant.
Now that the Lakers have put together their own trio on the west coast with main stars, newly acquired Westbrook joins Davis and of course James. Both teams look poised to meet each other in the NBA Finals as they were originally projected to last season.
Unfortunately, both teams dealt with injuries throughout the season which derailed that meeting quite early on. Fortunately for fans, all signs now point to them crossing paths in what could be an explosive matchup in the Finals.
Westbrook is a southern California native so returning home to where he grew up and played college ball at UCLA interested him along with competing for a championship.
It was reported that two weeks before the deal being made to send Westbrook to L.A. that the trio had met and discussed how they would work together. This meeting is similar to how the “Hampton Five” was formed as the Warriors core players of Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson and Andre Iguodala met with then free agent Kevin Durant to discuss the former MVP joining their team after their historic 73-9 season time will tell how these three co-stars will mesh as all three are better with the ball in their hands and aren’t outstanding shooters. So providing outside shooting will be essential to how far this team goes and how successful they will as a unit
The one thing that is for sure is that it is going to be very interesting come next season as this team suits up in the Staples Center.