The Los Angeles Lakers needed to add a reliable third scoring option behind LeBron James and Anthony Davis next season, and they found their man.
Los Angeles traded Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Montrezl Harrell and their 2021 first-round pick for Russell Westbrook and three future second-round picks from the Washington Wizards.
Though Westbrook is bound to be a Hall of Famer whenever he decides to stop playing, his fit with James and Davis has produced concerns.
Westbrook isn’t a floor-spacing shooter by any means, despite attempting shots at a high volume. He’s more of a relentless downhill attacker who can manipulate help defenders and find open teammates. But there are questions if that’ll work with a clogged offense since James works best with the ball and Davis operates best inside the arc.
During his introductory press conference, Westbrook explained how he’ll share the ball with James and spread the floor without having the ball in his hands, via NBA TV:
"Bron is one of the best players to play this game… my job is to make his game easy for him."@russwest44 on sharing the ball with @kingjames next season. pic.twitter.com/43tTkWlr9Z
— NBA TV (@NBATV) August 10, 2021
“As you know, Bron is one of the best players to play this game and his ability to kind of be able to do everything on the floor allows me to be able to just figure it out. I’m coming to a championship-caliber team, and my job is to make sure that I’m able to make his game easy for him. And I’ll find ways to do that throughout the game.
As it pertains to ball-handling and all that, it really doesn’t matter. There’s many different ways you can impact the game without having the ball in your hands, and I’ve been able to do that for many years and we’ll figure it out.”
The Lakers have signed Wayne Ellington and Carmelo Anthony, among others, to alleviate possible spacing issues. Both are proven, knockdown shooters.
If Westbrook can figure things out offensively as he said, he’ll play a major part in trying to bring Los Angeles its 18th title in franchise history.
