Why the Pacers should trade for Lakers' Russell Westbrook | Opinion
Russell Westbrook to the Indiana Pacers sounds ridiculous, irresponsible, maybe even dangerous. Know what that tells me?
The Pacers need to consider it.
Look, there’s no way around it: Doing business as usual won’t get it done for the Pacers.
They’ve tried for years to build a team organically – The Right Way – and it hasn’t worked. The Pacers gave it a good run with those magical 2013 and ’14 Eastern Conference finalists put together by Larry Bird, but the margin for error was slim and the magic slipped away. Kevin Pritchard has since constructed rosters with above average players at every position, but flakiness (Paul George, Victor Oladipo) and injuries (everyone else) got in the way.
KEVIN DURANT: Star's return boosts Nets' NBA title hopes
NEWSLETTER: Get the latest sports news straight to your inbox
Now the Pacers have a chance to do something inorganic, something absurd, like acquire Russell Westbrook and his $47 million contract. Westbrook has made triple-double history, and for that he’ll go down among the greatest players in NBA history, but he's overpaid and deteriorating. That guy’s gone.
That doesn’t matter, of course. Not to the Pacers, not for the sake of this deal. This isn’t about acquiring Westbrook. It’s not even about dumping Myles Turner and Buddy Hield in the proposed exchange with Los Angeles, though it’s a good idea to get something for them before they leave for nothing.
Turner is in the final year of his contract. He wants a max deal, God bless him, and he won’t get it here. Maybe somewhere else, though, because P.T. Barnum was right about a sucker being born every minute.
And Turner needs to go somewhere else. Maybe after he averages 12.5 points and 6.5 rebounds there, wherever that is, he’ll realize what he is. Probably not. He thinks he’s a star. He thinks the Pacers are holding him back. Run free, big fella.
As for Buddy Hield? Pretty sure this story is the first time I’ve written his name, and wouldn’t care if it’s the last. Nothing against Hield, who seems nice and played 26 games last season for the Pacers. Says here he played well, averaging 18.2 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.8 assists, and shooting 44.7% from the floor, 36.2% on 3-pointers and 88.6% from the line. Sounds like a terrific player, doesn't it?
Buddy Hield isn’t a terrific player.
Hield is good, he’s fine, he’s not worth the $20.5 million he’ll make next season on a team going nowhere.
And believe it: The 2022-23 Indiana Pacers are going nowhere. Want to pout about it? Or do you want the Pacers to go somewhere in 2023-24?
This is where Russell Westbrook comes in handy.
Lakers get Turner and Hield; Pacers get Westbrook and hope
It’s the first-round draft picks. That’s the currency of today’s NBA, the way a team can get better – fast – and the Pacers need as many first-rounders as they can get.
The parameters of the potential deal, as rumored everywhere and reported by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, have the Pacers sending Turner and Hield to the Lakers for Westbrook and Los Angeles’ first-round picks in 2027 and ’29. The holdup? Lord knows. The Lakers are said to be unsure whether to give the Pacers two first-rounders. The Lakers are said to be looking at other deals, including a three-team trade involving the New Knicks and Jazz star Donovan Mitchell.
Normally we don’t address rumors here at the IndyStar, because they’re everywhere and generally aren’t worth the tweet on which they’re typed, but this rumor won’t go away. Whatever happens, it’s instructive to the way you see the Pacers.
Do you see them as a rising contender in the Eastern Conference? They could be, in the near future, though we need to see two things first:
Shooting guard Bennedict Mathurin on an NBA court. At Arizona he looked like an above average NBA athlete with above average NBA shooting range. Unless looks were deceiving, the Pacers grabbed a possible star with the sixth overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft.
Center Isaiah Jackson in a larger role. In limited minutes last season the 6-10 former Kentucky one-and-done looked like a possible star: 8.3 ppg, 4.1 rpg and 1.4 blocks. The NBA is all about minutes and projection, and in 36 minutes per game Jackson’s rookie totals project to 19.8 ppg, 9.9 rpg and 3.5 blocks. That’s better across the board than Turner’s 36-minute production last season (15.7 ppg, 8.7 rpg, 3.4 blocks), and Turner was in his seventh NBA season. He’s 26.
Jackson was a rookie. He’s 20. Whatever he is, whatever he can be, we’ve not seen it yet.
The Pacers also have 6-10 Jalen Smith at power forward, another possible star. He’s a typical Pritchard find, a prospect with more potential than production, like Oladipo, Domantas Sabonis and T.J. Warren – all young players given a larger role here, where they blossomed into stars. In 1½ seasons in Phoenix, Smith averaged 4.1 ppg and 3.1 rpg in 9.6 minutes. Shown no belief by the Suns, he shot just 23.2% on 3-pointers.
Smith played 22 games with the Pacers after being acquired in February. The Pacers gave him 24.7 minutes per game, and Smith provided 13.4 ppg and 7.6 rpg. Shown belief here, Smith shot 37.3% on 3-pointers. He’s 22, he’s going to be special, and … wait, he already is special:
Jalen Smith resurrected his career with the Pacers and played his way into an enormous payday this offseason, one he couldn’t get here because of bizarre NBA rules capping an offer by the Pacers – because they acquired him while he was still on his rookie deal – to $9.6 million for the next two seasons.
Smith took the Pacers’ offer because he’s grateful, because he likes it here, because he’s special.
And then there’s point guard Tyrese Haliburton. He already is a star. You know this. And that’s three really good young players around him – all three could be better than “really good” – plus Chris Duarte, who averaged 13.1 ppg as a rookie.
Not sure what it will look like this year, but that’s the makings of a damn good core down the road. Like, around the corner. Perhaps as soon as next year.
Notice, Myles Turner isn’t in that lineup. Neither is Buddy Hield. Nor Russell Westbrook, for that matter.
And don’t worry about the year 2029, or even 2027. The Pacers don’t need that much time. You’ll see.
Pacers land Victor Wembanyama or Scoot Henderson?!?
Not many teams want to deal with Westbrook, and at this point, neither do the LeBron’s. Rather, the Lakers. Eh, same difference. LeBron wants to win now – he turns 38 in December – and just signed an extension through the 2024-25 season. That’s his window, and it starts now.
Westbrook is almost 34. He's done. He can’t help LeBron anymore, and his $47 million salary means the Lakers can’t afford to add anyone else who can. Which is why they’ll soon trade him, as confirmed by their acquisition last week of known Westbrook agitator Patrick Beverley.
Russ is gone, but again, not many teams have the salary-cap space or the patience to deal with him. And those who do? Most aren’t willing to offer two solid starters still in their 20s, such as Turner and Hield.
Unless the Lakers can add a third team, perhaps that Knicks-Jazz deal now being rumored, they might not be able to top what the Pacers are offering. Indiana wants two first-rounders, in 2027 and ‘29, but not because the Pacers want to use either pick.
Understand? The Pacers want two first-rounders from Los Angeles to package in another deal down the road, perhaps before the 2023 NBA Draft, when 7-3 French sensation Victor Wembanyama will go No. 1 overall.
Can the Pacers acquire enough assets to get Wembanyama? Probably not, no. But then, the Pacers aren’t going anywhere this season. They’ll have a Ping-Pong ball or two in the 2023 NBA Draft lottery. Maybe they get lucky. Maybe they don’t, but can still package three or four future first-rounders for the No. 2 overall pick and land 6-2 Scoot Henderson of the G-League Ignite. Haven’t heard of Scoot? Not to worry. You will.
Meantime, the Pacers can market Russell Westbrook, the same way old man Barnum once marketed mermaids, acrobats and other curiosities. If nobody’s buying, big deal. Dump Westbrook. Give his minutes to Mathurin. Get ready for 2023-24.
Because if the Pacers can pull off this Westbrook deal, parting only with Turner and Hield for two first-rounders, our humble little NBA franchise is 12 months away from something special.