The Lakers are officially back in business.
Thursday, February 9th was the NBA trade deadline and it was very eventful, one trade that brought a smile to my face and brought me great joy was the Russell Westbrook trade.
Yes, After two grueling seasons with the Lakers, they have finally managed to deal away Russell Westbrook and this is a great thing for the lakers because Russell Westbrook was the reason for their struggles the last two seasons.
The Lakers traded away Russell Westbrook to the Utah Jazz in a three-team trade in return they got back D'Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley, and Jarred Vanderbilt.
As you all remember The Lakers drafted D'Angelo Russell all the way back in 2015 and a lot has changed since back then, he got traded to the Brooklyn Nets because he was immature and at the time caused a lot of distractions for the Lakers when he snitched on Nick Young for cheating on his fiance.
Since then D'Agelo has grown as both a person and as a player.
He has gained experience playing with players like Karl Anthony-Towns and most importantly Steph Curry in a franchise that was the gold standard for franchises, and I think he has learned a lot from being away from the Lakers.
But now he is making his return to the Lakers and I think he will make the Lakers way better.
Mainly cause he is going to give the Lakers shooting, in my opinion, D'Angelo Russell Is way better than Russell Westbrook, currently, he is averaging 18 points per game, 3.1 rebounds, and 6.2 assists per game, and he also turns the ball over less than Westbrook, but most importantly he can shoot that is something the Lakers need to surround Lebron James with, LeBron Thrives with shooters around him.
Also in a separate trade, the Lakers traded away Patrick Beverley for Mo Bamba.
I.
Think these trades have made the Lakers a legitimate playoff team in the western conference, now the question of how far they will go in the Playoffs is a complicated one because it hinges on two factors, number one is the quality of competition in the western conference and the second is the health of the Lakers, these are both things that aren't working in the Lakers favors because Kevin Durant has just made his return to the western conference by joining the Phoenix Suns and Kyrie Irving has joined the Mavericks also there was already steep competition in the Western conference in the form of The Denver Nuggets, Memphis Grizzlies, and New Orleans Pelicans.
ESPN First Take