Well, that certainly did not take long. With the 2021-22 NBA regular season coming to a halt, the Indiana Pacers failed to dodge the farcical mill, now becoming the subject of noise pertaining to them being a possible dumpster for Russell Westbrook and the dysfunctional Los Angeles Lakers.
As the Lakers insist on creating wiggle room largely withheld by Westbrook’s albatross contract to make massive roster revisions, the trade machine aficionados are already starting to scorn the realms of rational team management, handpicking the Pacers to somehow save LA from its shipwreck.
The Indiana Pacers are smart enough to evade Russell Westbrook and the Lakers’ wrecking ball
NBA insider Marc Stein floated the idea of the Lakers dangling Westbrook away for Malcolm Brogdon and Buddy Hield, using draft compensation as corresponding sweeteners. However, he himself pointed out that the Pacers would have to really love the draft picks to even consider engaging in such a deal. After all, keeping Westbrook is almost out of the equation.
Still, despite efforts to rationalize potential engagements right from the get-go with a trade idea that actually makes sense, social media has turned what was a cursory suggestion into a fantasy-laden groundwork for golden nothing with a dash of purplish gloom.
There are loads of reasons why the Indiana Pacers will not entertain whatever the Lakers offer to jettison Russell Westbrook, but for sanity’s sake, trimming them down is necessary.
Trading for Russell Westbrook under the fallback of draft picks will be too risky for the Indiana Pacers
For the Indiana Pacers to even spare the Los Angeles Lakers a glance on an offer around Russell Westbrook, they would have to:
- Be really turned off by the contracts of both Malcolm Brogdon and Buddy Hield,
- Fail on finding a taker for Brogdon and/or Hield, which is very unlikely (more on that later),
- Really like the future-proofing provided by the Lakers’ uncertain draft picks,
- Be really confident about the Lakers being very bad in 2027 and beyond
- Be very willing to absorb the financial repercussions of waiving and stretching Westbrook’s monstrous salary,
- Be really confident that they could find another taker for Westbrook instead, which is severely unlikely, or
- Be very willing to accommodate Westbrook and let him lead a Pacers team which already has a more efficient floor general to begin with in Tyrese Haliburton.
A lack of even one of the foregoing is enough to constitute a massive red flag that the Pacers could use to respond with a resounding “no”.
Also, it is rather puzzling that the Lakers are still packaging Westbrook as a franchise-altering player (in a good way) when his decline this season has clearly been more than a matter of basketball fit. There are numbers to back up the notion that his physical regression has began to hamper him substantially. There is a reason why he has donned four different jerseys in four consecutive years.
Westbrook badly needs a change of scenery for a better ending to his Hall of Fame career, but whether any other team volunteers to take him on and facilitate him with a necessary roster overturn is a massive question mark. And the Indiana Pacers hardly look like a franchise willing to take that on when they have just traded a win-now player in Domantas Sabonis on the deadline to elevate their capped ceiling.
The Indiana Pacers can get more value for Malcolm Brogdon and Buddy Hield and should not settle for Russell Westbrook
This may be a no sheesh, Sherlock statement, but the Indiana Pacers view both Malcolm Brogdon and Buddy Hield as valuable assets that they could use to add to their collection of young players and draft capital in case of a trade. Packaging both of them to get draft picks from far beyond is malpractice, considering the marginal value that Russell Westbrook adds through his expiring contract as the present return.
Indiana has repeatedly made its plans to return to competitiveness as soon as possible very clear, withholding some impetus for the front office to make an urgent deal involving one of them. Even if they do pull the trigger, packaging them on their own is more than enough for them to acquire at least a first-rounder and a young player in return.
Combine them both? Then you could be looking at a grounded attempt to be more ambitious and be on the lookout for upper echelon stars in the league who could be pegged as flight risks (ahem, Donovan Mitchell).
Oh, and what is behind this utmost confidence for the Pacers front office? Look no further than Kevin Pritchard and Chad Buchanan, who have executed some of the savviest trades in recent seasons which enabled the team to rebound from abrupt departures. Remember the Paul George trade? How about the Caris LeVert one that saved them from the sinking ship of Victor Oladipo? Or the ceiling-raiser that was the Tyrese Haliburton trade?
Love them or hate them, but the Indiana Pacers, delay notwithstanding, have been one of the smartest teams on the transaction panels. Safe to say, they certainly will be smart enough to exorcize the temptation that is Russell Westbrook and the Lakers.
P.S. Dear major media outlets, stop making small market teams the perfect antidote to the anguish of their big market counterparts.