The Whiteboard: How does Russell Westbrook fit with LeBron the Lakers?

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The Los Angeles Lakers started the NBA Draft chaos early, agreeing in principle to a trade for Russell Westbrook before the draft even started. The deal would send Montrezl Harrell, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Kyle Kuzma to the Wizards, along with the rights to the No. 22 pick, which they in an additional trade to land Aaron Holiday from the Pacers.

The deal can’t officially be completed until Aug. 6 which leaves room for some minor details to be changed or additional teams to become involved but it seems certain that Westbrook will be playing with LeBron and the Lakers next season, which raises A LOT of questions.

Is Russell Westbrook really the kind of player LeBron and the Lakers need?

On the surface, Westbrook seems to address exactly none of the Lakers’ needs and definitely appears to be on a downward trajectory. He’s not a threat as a floor spacer, he’s a middling defender with very little versatility. Almost all of his value is derived from having the ball in his hands but every possession he uses is one that LeBron or Anthony Davis don’t, which might not be a good thing.

But focusing on how Russell Westbrook fits with LeBron and Anthony Davis overlooks at least one key advantage — the minutes LeBron is on the bench. LeBron played a career-low 33.4 minutes per game last season and it seems reasonable that the Lakers could be even more meticulous about managing his load this season. Over the past two seasons, the Lakers have been outscored by 59 points (about 2.3 points per 100 possessions) in the 1238 minutes Davis has played without LeBron.

If Frank Vogel is careful about staggering rotations, he should be able to make sure Davis and Westbrook are always on the floor together in the 16 or so minutes per game LeBron is resting, minutes in which the Lakers have been, at best, playing their opponents even. And the fit between Davis and Westbrook without LeBron is much, much cleaner.

Ideally, these lineups would feature three shooters around the Davis-Westbrook pick-and-roll in the middle of the floor but there’s a chance Andre Drummond may need to get wedged in there as well. But Westbrook has plenty of experience orchestrating lineups with two bigs and a dearth of shooting. In his last full season in Oklahoma City (2018-19), he played about 70 percent of his minutes with Jerami Grant and Steven Adams, minutes in which the Thunder outscored opponents by an average of 6.1 points per 100 possessions. Regardless, even if Westbrook isn’t elevating the Lakers’ starting and star-focused lineups, he can help them get a lot more out of their LeBron-less minutes.

Russell Westbrook’s biggest value may be as a free agent selling point

Westbrook presumably puts the Lakers out of the race for Kyle Lowry or Chris Paul but it may actually help them fill out their roster with other valuable pieces. Role players who will draw interests from multiple contenders — like Doug McDermott, Danny Green, Jeff Green, Blake Griffin, Paul Millsap, Lou Williams, Reggie Bullock and Austin Rivers — may be more willing to join the Lakers and potentially at a discount. The somewhat negative public perception of Westbrook’s value doesn’t seem to be shared by many of his peers and the Lakers may look like a dramatic favorite to ring-chasing veterans.

Maybe LeBron is the one who can finally break Russell Westbrook of some of his bad habits?

For years, Westbrook has been defined by his stubborn devotion to how he sees the game. Over the past three seasons, he has attempted 1590 pull-up jumpers — an average of more than eight per game and which represents about 46 percent of his total shot attempts. His effective field goal percentage on those shots is 38.6 and that’s including the added efficiency of his rare made 3-pointers. To put it another way, all his pull-up jumpers combined have had the same expected value as a 25 percent 3-point shooter hoisting one from beyond the arc, but he just keeps taking them.

He didn’t adjust for Kevin Durant, or Paul George, or James Harden, or Bradley Beal. But none of those guys are LeBron. Maybe LeBron is the one who can really get him to refine his shot selection, to figure out how to use his athleticism as an off-ball threat, to bring consistent effort and attention at the defensive end of the floor. Doing the same thing and expecting different results doesn’t usually work but, again, LeBron makes this a different thing.

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