On Wednesday night February 8, 2023, sources reported to On The Inside that the Los Angeles Lakers had come to a three-team, eight-player trade agreement. Sending Russell Westbrook from LA to the Utah Jazz, while the Lakers receive point guard D’Angello Russell from the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Lakers will also acquire Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt, while the Timberwolves will receive Mike Conley and Nickeil Alexander Walker along with picks. Additionally, the Jazz will be given Russell Westbrook, Juan Toscanini Anderson, Damian Jones, and a 2027 first-round pick from the Lakers that is top-four protected.
Sources reported that all players participating in the trade — including Russell Westbrook — have been informed. This exchange boosts the Lakers’ roster revolving around LeBron James and furthers their efforts to reboot their inconsistent season. Tuesday marked the day when James became the NBA’s all-time top scorer, yet they remain rooted in the 13th spot among the 15 Western Conference teams with a 25-30 record.
The Los Angeles Lakers, rank this season 26th in overall 3-point field goal percentage and 27th in 3-point field goal percentage on wide-open attempts. The signing of guards D’Angelo Russell and Michael Beasley can drastically improve those numbers. Russell, 26, is averaging 17.9 points and 6.2 assists per game while shooting 46.5% from the field, including 39.1% from beyond the arc. Michael Beasley, meanwhile, is averaging 19.2 points and 5.7 rebounds per game while shooting 44.5% from the field, including 37.3% from 3-point range.
D’Angelo Russell has been instrumental in helping the Minnesota team maintain a competitive standing in the Western Conference. His field goal and 3-point percentages are both career highs this season, and his layups and dunks shooting rate of 65.4% has placed him amongst the top 10 guards with 125 field goal attempts or more.
After eight years in the NBA, Russell will be returning to the Los Angeles Lakers for his second stint. Having been drafted No. 2 overall by them back in 2015, he spent two seasons with them before being traded to the Brooklyn Nets in 2017. However, with his contract approaching its last year and Anthony Edwards emerging, the Minnesota Timberwolves chose to take a different path. Across his entire NBA career, Russell has played with five teams but hasn’t stayed with any of them for more than two seasons.
Milik Beasley has been an effective shooter this season, registering 13.4 points a game while knocking down 35.9% of shots from beyond the arc for the Utah Jazz. The 6-foot-9 Vanderbilt product has been dynamic on both sides of the court, averaging 8.3 points and 7.9 rebounds in a starting role for his team; appearing in 52 games and starting in 41 of them.
The Russell Westbrook experiment in Los Angeles has now come to an end. His arrival to the team two years ago was met with great anticipation, yet injuries along with an unsuitable on-court pairing between him, LeBron James, and Anthony Davis, caused the Lakers to miss the postseason last year, and put them at risk of doing the same this season.
Westbrook, 34, now moves to his fifth team in 5 years after a decorated 11-year stint in Oklahoma City that saw him make eight All-NBA teams and win the MVP award in 2017. Despite entering his 15th season in the NBA, Russell Westbrook has continued to rack up impressive stats, becoming one of only six players to record four or more triple-doubles this season. Despite his success, a move to the bench has caused a dip in his production from his career averages, recording 15.9 points, 6.2 rebounds and 7.5 assists per game.
During LeBron’s record setting night on Tuesday, Lakers head coach Davrin Ham and Westbrook got into a heated exchange in the locker room at halftime. Tension has been boiling for a while between Lakers players. This trade will provide a nice reset before the All Star break and hopefully be the spark the team needs to make a playoff push.