The Los Angeles Lakers have reached a deal to trade guard Russell Westbrook to the Utah Jazz and acquire guard D’Angelo Russell from Minnesota in a three-team deal that also includes Utah sending guard Mike Conley to the Timberwolves, a person familiar with the deal told USA TODAY Sports.
The person requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly until the deal is official.
The Lakers will also get Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt from Utah. Minnesota also will receive Nickeil Alexander-Walker and picks, and the Jazz will get Juan Toscano-Anderson and a first-round draft pick from the Lakers.
Westbrook may seek a buyout from the Jazz so he can join a potential contender.
Russell Westbrook is being traded to Utah as part of a massive three-team trade with the Lakers, Jazz and Timberwolves.
The Westbrook experiment never quite yielded the results the Lakers sought when they acquired him from Washington in the summer of 2021. He wasn’t a fit alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis with the Lakers missing the playoffs last season, resulting in coach Frank Vogel’s dismissal, and the Lakers are just 25-30 and in 13th place in the Western Conference this season. Even under .500, the Lakers are two games behind the Jazz for a play-in spot and four games behind sixth-place Dallas, which just acquired Kyrie Irving from the Nets.
First-year Lakers coach Darvin Ham moved Westbrook to the bench and that staggered the minutes James, Davis and Westbrook were on the court together and freed up Westbrook to play his style. It worked to some degree but not enough to lift the Lakers into solid playoff position.
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Los Angeles explored trades for Westbrook before and during this season but were unable to move him until this deal. Westbrook, who is in the final year of a five-year, $206.7 million contract that pays him $47 million this season, averages 15.9 points, 7.5 assists and 6.2 rebounds and is shooting 41.7% from the field and 29.6% on 3-pointers.
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Russell returns to the Lakers, the team that…
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Author : USA TODAY Sports
Publish date : 2023-02-09 02:51:05
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