When he becomes a free agent next summer, Russell Westbrook could end up in L.A., as the Lakers think they have a legit shot of signing him.
For the moment, Russell Westbrook is a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder. Whether or not that is still the case by the end of the 2016-17 season remains to be seen. After his superstar teammate Kevin Durant bolted for the Golden State Warriors, there has been some thought that OKC would look to get rid of Westbrook and try to get something in return before he leaves in free agency.
As it turns out, one of the teams that might be interested in bringing Westbrook in should be hit the market isnt worried about getting him in a trade. No, the Los Angeles Lakers – coming off the worst season in franchise history – think they can sign Westbrook on their own next offseason, according to a comment from ESPN’s Chris Broussard to MSG:
"“The Lakers think they can sign him. And I was talking to some executives yesterday about possible trades they might do or offer. And I was told they think they can sign him as a free agent, so why should they give up anything?”"
Let’s not forget that this is the same team that thought it was going to sign Dwight Howard, Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Durant over the past few seasons, so the Lakers may just be living in a delusional world right now.
But why do they even need Westbrook? With a nucleus that includes veterans like Timofey Mozgov, Luol Deng and their middle school rotation of D’Angelo Russell, Jordan Clarkson, Brandan Ingram and Julius Randle, they are set!
I don’t care that Westbrook is a Los Angeles native – there is no chance he is heading to the Lakers on his own free will.
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