Lakers reset: Russell Westbrook trade buzz has died down

Editor’s note: This is the Monday, December 12, edition of the Purple & Bold Lakers newsletter from reporter Kyle Goon. To receive the newsletter in your inbox, sign up here.

One step forward, one step back. Injuries and illness took a toll on the Lakers’ record this past week just when they seemed primed to take a leap ahead.

WEEK IN REVIEW

Tuesday, L, Cleveland Cavaliers 116, Lakers 102
Wednesday, L, Toronto Raptors 126, Lakers 113
Friday, L, Philadelphia 76ers 133, Lakers 122 (OT)
Sunday, W, Lakers 124, Detroit Pistons 117

As of Monday morning, the Lakers (11-15) are tied for 12th in the Western Conference standings with the Oklahoma City Thunder, and they are seven games behind the first-place New Orleans Pelicans (18-8). They’re two games behind the Dallas Mavericks (13-13) for a play-in slot and three games behind the Portland Trail Blazers (14-12) for a top-six spot.

HIGH POINT: Gotta go with the Lakers’ one win in Detroit, as meager as it might have seemed on the heels of last week’s high point in Milwaukee. LeBron James and Anthony Davis worked nicely together, combining for 69 points and closing out down the stretch. Austin Reaves hit a key 3-pointer with seconds left. The team cited the importance of getting a confidence boost of ending a three-game losing streak before facing Boston on Tuesday.

LOW POINT: Highly debatable, because the Lakers impressed Friday night by working down a 12-point deficit in just 2:30 of time and forcing an extra period in Philadelphia. But after Anthony Davis missed what would have been a go-ahead free throw, the Lakers couldn’t muster any offense in extra time, missing their first nine field goals. Whether it pointed to tired legs, a schematic deficiency, some rash shot attempts or a combination of those factors, it was a big letdown moment in what could have been a road triumph against Joel Embiid and James Harden. It hurt more because victory felt so close.

TRENDING TOPIC: There were splashy reports by The Athletic and Marc Stein on Monday morning, touting that the Lakers are interested (perhaps most accurately *still* interested) in Detroit’s Bojan Bogdanovic, a player they could have traded for this summer when he was with the Jazz and in fact got fairly far down the road in negotiations with as part of a larger part of the package, sources told SCNG earlier this season. The assets offered so far for Bogdanovic now, Stein reported, would be a first-round pick plus Kendrick Nunn and Patrick Beverley (who have not been lighting the world on fire).

Anyone notice that Russell Westbrook doesn’t seem to come up in trade rumors about the Lakers anymore?

The buzz around the franchise recently has been that the team might be more willing to eat Westbrook’s $47.1 million contract and keep their tradeable draft equity, favoring a smaller move around the margins. In theory, what makes this justifiable is that Westbrook has found a niche as a bench boost, and as long as the team colors within those lines, he’s not a negative influence in the locker room or on the court. Earlier this week, SCNG wrote about the sense that Westbrook has become more accepting of his role – which is no small feat for Coach Darvin Ham. If he’s mentally willing, the Lakers feel comfortable keeping him on, it seems.

What doesn’t fit about this narrative is that Westbrook hasn’t found All-Star form in his bench role; he just doesn’t hurt the Lakers nearly as much as he used to. The one factor that stands out this season is that he’s creating assists at a higher rate (9.7 assists per 36 minutes vs. 7.4 last season), but his scoring is down, his shooting percentages have tailed off to below even last season’s marks, and he has the worst season-long plus-minus rating on the team at minus-70 in 700 minutes. Even cutting that figure off at the last 14 games (when the Lakers are 9-5), Westbrook is still last at minus-19 (for reference, Anthony Davis leads all players with a plus-112 in that span, and Dennis Schröder is the only other player with a negative rating).

Sunday was a good reminder of the highs and lows of Westbrook. In the first half against the Pistons, he crushed. He had 8 assists, 6 points, 0 turnovers, and was a brilliant offensive partner for James (three straight dimes at the start of the second quarter). The third quarter saw an abrupt decline, and Westbrook gave up four turnovers to just one assist as the Pistons got tight. NBA tracking data indicates he was guarding Bogdanovic on two of his made threes in a 38-point game. Ham didn’t play Westbrook at all in the fourth quarter, and while that decision might have helped the Lakers win the game, it’s going to be hard for the coaching staff to keep Westbrook happy long-term if the closing lineup carrot is gradually taken away from him altogether.

The Lakers still haven’t looked consistently like a real playoff threat aside from the night they beat Milwaukee. Westbrook’s contract, broken up into multiple role players, still seems like the most straightforward path to get there. His fit on this year’s roster isn’t quite as snug as the team likes to now say it is.

Under general manager Rob Pelinka, the Lakers have never been terribly bold at the trade deadline, but how much in retrospect might the Lakers have liked to have added Kyle Lowry at the deadline in 2021? Or John Wall at the deadline last season? Every choice carries a risk, and the franchise has been pretty risk-averse lately when considering its future first-rounders. Perhaps the rise of the Pelicans – and the continuing equity they still owe New Orleans – has made themmore cautious. But it’s hard to see conservative moves vaulting the Lakers to where they want to go at the moment.

READ OF THE WEEK: I took a crack at what has made Austin Reaves such an efficient scorer, on par with some of the best in the NBA per shot attempt. The numbers may surprise you.

HEATING UP: He’s not a perfect player for the Lakers, but Thomas Bryant stood tall in some critical moments this past week, none moreso than when the team saw Anthony Davis exit early with cold symptoms in Cleveland. Bryant scored 19 points in that game, then scored 16 in Toronto. His weakness comes defending bigs like Embiid, who bullied him Friday when Davis was in foul trouble. But at least on the offensive end, Bryant gives the Lakers something to work with when Davis can’t be on the floor.

COOLING DOWN: Kendrick Nunn isn’t hiding that he thinks he should be playing a lot more. After scoring 15 points on 6 of 13 shooting in a mostly forgettable night in Toronto, Nunn insisted: “I’ve been ready. I just need to be out there.” But in the moments he’s been out on the floor, Nunn can’t do the thing he was brought in to do: make shots. He was 0 for 6 in the previous two games he played against Milwaukee and Cleveland. He’s not been much of a playmaker or perimeter defender, so it seems hard for Ham to justify giving Nunn more run when there’s a glut of short guards on the roster.

INJURY REPORT: The team is significantly hurting for size at the moment: Wenyen Gabriel (left shoulder sprain) is due for a reevaluation early this week; Juan Toscano-Anderson (right ankle sprain) will be reevaluated in another week or so. LeBron James has been dealing with left ankle soreness off and on, and missed a game this week after he looked so-so in Cleveland. Anthony Davis was sick earlier this week, and made a splash against Philly and Detroit – but the cold or flu has been going around in the locker room, so it’s hard to rule out that it might affect others in the coming week.

QUOTABLE: My favorite quote on the beat this week actually came from Detroit coach Dwane Casey, one of the most gentlemanly figures in the NBA coaching ranks. Asked about having a specific gameplan for James, Casey quipped about being fired by the Raptors in 2018, the same season he was Coach of the Year after being swept by James and the Cavaliers: “I mean LeBron is the reason why I’m here. We couldn’t get him in Toronto. We ran into him every year, it seems like.”

AHEAD OF THE CURVE: The Lakers seem to have no problem getting up for tough competition lately, after a win against the Bucks and a tight contest against the Sixers. Can they do the same for Boston? The Celtics have size and physicality, which should make them tough for the Lakers. The Lakers also get another shot at Denver, with whom they’ve split this year – since they last met, Davis has played on another level.

COMING UP (All times PT)

Tuesday, Boston, 7 p.m. (TNT)
Friday, Denver, 7 p.m. (ESPN)
Sunday, Washington, 6:30 p.m.

– Kyle Goon

Editor’s note: Thanks for reading the Purple & Bold Lakers newsletter from reporter Kyle Goon. To receive the newsletter in your inbox, sign up here.

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