We’re just under two weeks into the 2022-23 NBA season and there have already been a handful of surprises, from the Brooklyn Nets and Philadelphia 76ers starting 1-4 to the Los Angeles Lakers’ winless start.
Our panel of NBA reporters — Ric Bucher, Melissa Rohlin and Yaron Weitzman — evaluates what they saw this past week and what we can expect next.
1. What should the Lakers do with Russell Westbrook if they can’t find a trade for him soon?
Bucher: Bring him off the bench and make him the leader of the second unit. More important, make it clear to everyone: Russ isn’t why we’re losing. A case could be made that Patrick Beverley is contributing less than Russ. LeBron is a far bigger turnover machine than Russ and has a far worse assist to turnover ratio (1.6 to Westbrook’s 2.5).
LeBron James makes cryptic Instagram post after Lakers 0-4 start
Shannon Sharpe reacts to LeBron’s cryptic post.
Rohlin: How could there be a trade soon? He couldn’t be worse offensively right now, considering he’s shooting 28.9% from the field and 0.83%(!!!) from beyond the arc, far below his career averages of 43.8% from the field and 30.4% from beyond the 3-point line.
Right now, the Lakers just need to be patient and hope he increases his market value. Eventually, the law of averages should kick in and he’ll start making some shots. That’s the only chance they have of dealing him. Until then, the Lakers need to keep encouraging him to play good defense (which has been his lone bright spot), bench him during crunch time of close games and hope that he gets out of his slump soon.
Bucher: The only reason anyone is taking Russ is for his expiring contract and whatever picks the Lakers are willing to give up. The Lakers should not be giving up picks, they should be making trades to get more, including some way, somehow, one for this year’s draft. Which means it’s time to start thinking about trading Anthony Davis.
Weitzman: What should the Lakers do with Russ? They shouldn’t have traded for him in the first place, then they shouldn’t have pretended that bringing him back this year was a viable option and that everything would be cool. Step 1: Bring him off the bench! Let him run point on some second-units when LeBron is off the floor. If he has a problem with that, then do the “we’ve agreed to separate” things. It’s not like it hurts his trade value; it can’t be any lower, and anyone trading for him will be doing so for the expiring contract and picks, not…
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