NBA Trade Grades: Lakers offload Russell Westbrook, land D’Angelo Russell, Jarred Vanderbilt

The Lakers able to trade Russell Westbrook and offload him in a deal that will land them D’Angelo Russell, Jarred Vanderbilt and more. Grading the trade.

Russell Westbrook has been traded away from the Los Angeles Lakers. And not only have they finally been able to offload the polarizing former NBA MVP, but they were able to get quite a terrific haul in a three-team trade involving the Minnesota Timberwolves and Utah Jazz.

On Wednesday, less than 24 hours before the NBA Trade Deadline, the Lakers, Timberwolves and Jazz agreed to a three-team deal with many pieces but headlined around Westbrook going to Utah, Mike Conley going to Minnesota, and with Los Angeles landing D’Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt.

The day after LeBron James became the NBA’s scoring king, he and Anthony Davis now have tremendous reinforcements coming by way of this trade to try and propel the Lakers up the Western Conference standings and into the playoff race.

Russell Westbrook trade details: Lakers offload guard for D’Angelo Russell, Jarred Vanderbilt in 3-team deal

There are a lot of moving pieces, but here’s what the deal looks like as agreed upon.

For the picks being moved, the 2024 second-round pick going to Minnesota will be the lesser of Washington and Memphis’ pick. As for the first-round pick from the Lakers that is headed to Utah, there are reportedly light protections on that pick with it not moving if it’s No. 1-4.

Moreover, Chris B. Haynes of NBA on TNT reported earlier in the day that, if this trade were to happen, Westbrook could be bought out.

So with all these moving pieces, who won the trade? Let’s see what the grades are.

NBA Trade Grades: Lakers get a haul to overhaul the roster

The Lakers being able to offload Russell Westbrook, even when attached to a first-round pick, seemed near-impossible at times. So for Los Angeles to not only make that happen but to get a scoring guard as a No. 3 option in D’Angelo Russell and two forwards that can deepen a relatively weak rotation in that area of the roster by also landing Jarred Vanderbilt and Malik Beasley is a massive win.

What makes the trade even more appealing for the Lakers beyond getting immediate help to aid LeBron James and Anthony Davis trying to push LA back into the playoff race is the fact that they also still have their 2029 first-round pick. If they want to remain aggressive ahead of Thursday’s trade deadline, there is still another move that they could conceivably make.

For a team that definitely had to be feeling as if they missed out when Kyrie Irving was traded to Dallas, this is a big victory and one that could legitimately propel the Lakers to another level.

Lakers Grade: A-

NBA Trade Grades: Jazz are stockpiling a treasure trove of picks

Make no mistake, the Jazz are in a full teardown of the roster as this move, especially with Westbrook reportedly likely to be bought out after this trade, is in concurrence with the past year that included the Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell trades. But with those moves, they already entered this rebuild and now they have even more ammo to work with.

As Wojnarowski reported, Utah now has 15 first-round picks through the 2029 draft and have some nice pieces already on the roster to grow with like Ochai Agbaji, Lauri Markkanene, Collin Sexton and Walker Kessler. Oh, and they will also have more than $60 million in cap space.

The basketball is definitely not going to be pretty over the second half of this season. But the future looks bright for the Jazz and that was always the goal heading into trades like this.

Jazz Grade: B+

NBA Trade Grades: Timberwolves seem stagnant despite moving pieces

Though Minnesota could be accomplishing something important in terms of team chemistry by getting a veteran pass-first point guard, the fact of the matter is that this move doesn’t move the needle all that much. They have three future second-round picks, an aging and declining Mike Conley and role players that won’t make all that much of a difference.

Sometimes you have to take a lateral step or even a step back before you can move forward as a franchise. But in the immediate aftermath, it’s hard to feel like this is a move that helps the T’Wolves all that much.

Timberwolves Grade: C