The NBA universe expected that the opening games of the Los Angeles Lakers would be disappointing. Besides, it is heartbreaking for the Lakers’ fans to absorb two consecutive losses in the opening stage of the 22-23 season. Fans blame the Lakers’ woeful shot selection leading to turnovers and playing Russell Westbrook in the closing stages of the game.
Naturally, the calls for a trade came fast and furious, especially given how pivotal Westbrook was to the team’s offensive struggles. Fans’ hopes for a sudden agreement, however, are probably going to go unheard.
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN offered a probable explanation for that on NBA Today. He remarked, “There’s a level of desperation teams know (the Lakers) have. No one’s going to do a deal with LA but asking for a lot right now.
“If you’re the Lakers, you really have to wait 20 games, see what teams may start to pivot and look what might be out there for deals that aren’t the two-pick deals…or things start to present themselves where you know there’s going to be tanking for Victor Wenbamyama and all of the sudden, a team has an injury, a team decides instead of chasing the play-in, let’s get in the lottery and I think for the Lakers, they have to be patient.”
The Lakers are not showing any sign of a possible trade as well. Rather the coach Darvin Ham discards the rumor by marking Westbrook as an essential part of the team. He revealed why he wanted ‘Brodie’ in the closing stages of the game.
Darvin Ham said he brought Russell Westbrook back in the game because he wanted another athletic perimeter defender so the Lakers could switch on the perimeter, via @jovanbuha pic.twitter.com/4eMBtx333s
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) October 23, 2022
Although the gamble of keeping Brodie certainly didn’t help the Lakers, there is no clear sign of trading him as of yet. However, the guard is under a lot of pressure right now after three terrible performances to start his season, and if this streak continues, we might wind up seeing Brodie in a different uniform very soon.
