2022-23 Team Developments: News / Trades / Free Agents / Rumors

Bogdan Bogdanovic would be amazing especially since he's used to coming off the bench in ATL, so probably wouldn't ruffle the feathers in coming off the bench here.

 

Just naturally assume their both good shooters. Works for people on First Take.

 

Confused as to why the Lakers got the lowest grade here but..we definitely went for a big move Lebron should like.

Maybe the Los Angeles Lakers didn’t get Kyrie Irving, but they’re still taking big swings with the trade market.

The Athletic’s Shams Charania is reporting that the Lakers are finalizing a three-team deal with the Minnesota Timberwolves and Utah Jazz that would have the Lake Show acquiring D’Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt. Minnesota would get Mike Conley Jr., Nickeil Alexander-Walker and three second-round picks in the deal, and the Jazz would receive Russell Westbrook and highly coveted draft compensation.





ESPN reports that the Lakers’ Juan Toscano-Anderson and Damian Jones are headed to Utah as well. And the pick heading from L.A. to Utah is top-four protected.

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If Westbrook is bought out and does not play for the Jazz, which seems like a strong possibility, he’ll be an unrestricted free agent once he clears waivers.

So what does this mean for everybody involved? How do we grade out each team in this D-Lo reunion with the Lakers? Let’s grab the red pen and start grading!

Lakers receive D’Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley, Jarred Vanderbilt
For anybody hoping to see the promising point guard from his first go-around with the Lakers or the Russell who made an All-Star Game in Brooklyn, I wouldn’t get my hopes up. Russell has been brutal for the Wolves this season as he tries to capitalize on a contract year.

His individual numbers look fine at first glance. He’s averaging nearly 18 points and 6.0 assists per game. His turnovers are under 3.0 per game, and it’s by far the most efficient shooting season of his career with his first foray into 60 percent true shooting or better. On the court, however, the Wolves have been a losing team with him and a winning team without him. They’ve been outscored by 1.3 points per 100 possessions when he plays, and they outscore opponents by 4.1 points per 100 possessions when he’s sitting. That’s a massive swing. Their offense didn’t change whether or not he was on the floor, and their defense was much worse when he played.

Not all of that is Russell’s fault, but he’s beyond a negative defensive option. Would that all translate to the same effect if he’s moved to the Lakers? Possibly not. They don’t need him to be a primary point guard with LeBron James on the floor, but he was not always the primary point guard with Minnesota. The Wolves run their offense through a bunch of different guys. Russell’s role would be to run the offense when James isn’t on the floor and knock down shots whenever a defense swarms James and Anthony Davis. Simple enough.

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Russell just has to not give up as many points as he’s helping produce. Darvin Ham and the Lakers found a way to lessen the negative impact Westbrook was having by putting him in a sixth man role. Russell wouldn’t necessarily need that extreme, but defensively, this could get extremely rough. And maybe he can draw on more of his partnership with Patrick Beverley in what was a successful enough combination last season, although Beverley has had a rough campaign in Los Angeles so far.

As for the other parts of this trade, this is where I think the actual upgrade happens. Vanderbilt is exactly the defensive role player the Lakers need. He helped pull the defense together for the Wolves last season, and he’s a pretty good rebounder and can keep possessions alive on offense. He can switch one through four pretty seamlessly, and he doesn’t try to do too much with the ball. Beasley hasn’t shot the ball well by his standards this season, but we know it’s in there. This campaign in Utah has been an outlier compared to the rest of his career.

Beasley can start or come off the bench. The Lakers have been getting by with Troy Brown Jr., Toscano-Anderson and Austin Reaves in their rotation. Beasley and Vanderbilt are far better. Even if Russell is more of a flop, having way more of a playoff rotation with these guys in the mix does constitute a significant upgrade. The Lakers just have to hope the draft compensation feels worth it down the road, which is a tricky thing to navigate with their uncertain present and future.

Grade: B

Wolves receive Mike Conley Jr., Nickeil Alexander-Walker, 2024, 2025 and 2026 second-round picks
This is a massive upgrade at the point guard position for the Wolves as long as Conley can stay healthy. That’s the tricky part. He’s already missed 12 games this season. He missed 10 last year and 21 the year before and hasn’t missed single-digit games in a season since 2013-14. He’s as solid as they come at playing point guard on both ends of the floor, but his availability is often a problem. For a Wolves team battling a ton of injuries and missed games this season, that’s pretty difficult to rely on.

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As for the fit with Conley, this will be so much better for the Wolves, even if his numbers aren’t as sexy as what Russell puts up. Back when the Jazz were trying to compete on a grander scale, they played way better basketball with Conley on the court, and that was a pretty deep and loaded team (even though they faltered in the postseason). I would wager Conley starts seeing more of that type of impact on/off the court with a team like Minnesota that is hoping to be far more competitive and successful than this current Jazz team.

Conley has a good history with Rudy Gobert, often as the guard who had no problem passing to him. He would do more of what Donovan Mitchell couldn’t and find the passing angles or passing gumption to send that thing into the big man. Conley’s shot making has taken a bit of a hit, but he’s also not playing with a ton of options to take away attention this season. He’s still a 41 percent 3-point shooter on catch-and-shoot opportunities, so he can help spread the floor. He also doesn’t need the ball in his hands as much as Russell did, so it allows Anthony Edwards to have the ball more. That’s something people have been hoping to see because of the way his game is flourishing.

One thing to watch is how Karl-Anthony Towns takes this news. Russell is one of his closest friends, so if Towns is upset at this move, maybe that has ramifications down the road. Or maybe he just accepts it as part of the business and understands this late into his career.

How does Alexander-Walker fit into their plans? He’s shown some flashes in New Orleans and some flashes in Utah. He’s a 6-foot-6 wing with good playmaking skills, and he’s shot the ball well this season in limited minutes. He has some pretty solid block and steal rates for a wing too. He just plays very raw still, and he’ll have to clean up mistakes to ensure time on the Wolves this season. He still has a lot of potential though.

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Also, the Wolves held strong to make sure they brought back some draft capital here. It may not be a first-round pick, but them grabbing something is actually a decent negotiating win for Tim Connelly. That’s much better value.

Grade: A-

Jazz receive Russell Westbrook, Juan Toscano-Anderson, Damian Jones and 2027 first-round pick
There’s not a chance Westbrook plays in Utah, right? He’s had a ton of run-ins with the fans there in the past, and the Jazz won’t want him or require him to play there. They can figure out a buyout and let him go sign wherever wants to take a chance on him (maybe L.A.’s other team?)

This really just becomes about the draft compensation involved for Utah. That’s what the Jazz have been interested in with their trades the past year. They received a historic haul of draft picks from Minnesota in the Gobert trade and a healthy number when they sent Donovan Mitchell to Cleveland.

This draft compensation might be as much about bringing in Westbrook’s contract as it is the players they’re sending to Minneapolis and Los Angeles. The Lakers have had two first-round picks in their treasure chest of trade assets: a 2027 first and a 2029 first. Acquiring the 2027 first-round pick could end up being one of the perfect assets to own. LeBron James might play another two or three years, and if those happen with the Lakers, he’ll be gone by 2027. Betting on the Lakers not figuring out how to build into something sustainable there is a pretty good bet.

The Jazz have a lot of future picks now and can rival Oklahoma City in throwing assets around to go get disenchanted stars. Or they can just stockpile and wait for teams to crater around the time these picks become usable for them. Danny Ainge and Justin Zanik continue to acquire assets in a short amount of time in this rebuild.

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As for Toscano-Anderson and Jones, they’ve been non-factors for much of the season and don’t bring much to the Jazz in their rebuild, unless they send out even more veterans and need to fill in guys into this rotation.

Grade: B+

(Photo of Russell Westbrook and Mike Conley: Katelyn Mulcahy / Getty Images)

 

Hopefully it works out elsewhere. Glad it didn't work out there. Hope they don't find a replacement

 

Incredible trade from Rob. It might not be enough to save the season and make us contenders but it did open up a lot of new things for us where we were struggling to tread water.

 

trade pat bev/lonnie for someone over 6'3 who can defend. the less midgets on this team the better

 

Good trade for overall depth, but I said it when he was drafted and I will say it again. DLO is overrated and I really dislike him lol

 

So he pulled some 20-year-old sh!t with the cell phone recording of Swaggy P. That's all he did. But it was enough, he broke the bro code and his locker room respect was gone. We had zero leaders on the team then to stomp out the fires. Give it rest FFS, like who hasn't done stupid ish when they were a kid.

He seems to have been a good teammate since then but he is going to have to delve into the defensive end a lot here. He isn't a star here and not playing defense will probably end in spells on the pine. I know he is capable there, we saw it when he was in LA, he can defend if he puts his heart into it.

One thing I am happy about, cringing when our PG gets an open 3 is a thing of the past.

 

As crazy as this may sound, I would love to try to get Robert Covington from the Clippers in exchange for Beverly.

Clippers have been looking for point guard depth and they barely play RoCo.

It helps both teams

 

Yeah I have the same view. Hopefully he does well this time around.

 

My issue with him was his terrible defense, lazy approach, slow lateral movement and crappy pre madonna attitude. The cell phone issue doesn't help though.

 

I completely agree, but he’s a MASSIVE improvement over the black hole that was Russ. Do I need to post one of those compilations of him shooting shots off the top and sides of the backboard???

 

He was drafted 2nd to the Lakers and understandably a cocky 20 year-old kid. I'm sure he's matured a ton. The bigger concern for me is that it's his contract year. Hopefully he's matured enough to realize that team success will yield him a bigger contract over any individual success. Play defense and prove that you can fit alongside Lebron and AD.