The New York Post is reporting that the Pacers had a really good laugh over the Lakers trying to offload Russell Westbrook on them. Apparently, the Pacers aren’t interested in that deal as they’ve got better options to choose from.
“They just get a nice chuckle and say ’No thank you, we’ve got better deals on the table than that,’” said ESPN draft analyst Jonathon Givony on “The Lowe Post” podcast, who added that a move for Brogdon “is probably not going to happen.”
Brogdon, a former NBA Rookie of the Year in 2017, averaged 19.1 points, 5.9 assists, and 5.1 rebounds for the Pacers this past year.
The Lakers, on the other hand, had a major Westbrook problem last season, when his historically poor offensive performance contributed to the team missing the playoffs.
Westbrook averaged 18.5 points per game (78 games) last season, which is his lowest since the 2009-10 season — while also posting a career-worst 15.0 PER, or player efficiency rating.
The 33-year-old point guard has a $47.1 million player option, which isn’t the most ideal situation for some teams interested in Westbrook’s services.
Lakers owner Jeanie Buss said in May that the team “will look at everything,” and “make hard decisions,” if needed, after Los Angeles finished 33-49 last season.
Though Westbrook’s future remains unclear, the Lakers shook up their coaching staff in April by parting ways with head coach Frank Vogel. The team has since hired Bucks assistant Darvin Ham.
It looks like Kyrie Irving though may be taking Russ’ place.
If you believe the reports, the Kyrie Irving and Kevin Duran experiment has come to an end in Brooklyn.
The Nets reportedly have gotten tired of the “antics” from Kyrie and don’t see the negatives don’t outweigh the positives anymore for them. He has a $36 million player option he could opt into if he wants to stay with the team and they could still eventually trade him but it seems like he would want to opt out to get a long-term contract.
If he does opt out, and maybe even if he opts in, he will have plenty of suitors and one of them is the Lakers. It’s obvious why the Lakers and Kyrie would love a pairing and Marc Stein of Substack, Kyrie and Lebron have been in contact about a possible reunion.
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