As the hours and minutes tick down until Thursday’s trade deadline for the 2021-22 season, NBA Twitter is making its case for the Lakers trading Russell Westbrook and an asset to the Rockets for John Wall.
Houston is reportedly open to doing that, should the Lakers sufficiently compensate them with a future first-round draft asset. Without that, the Rockets would likely stick with the status quo, since Westbrook has given no indications that he would accept the type of non-playing role that Wall has unselfishly done with Houston this season.
In addition to the Rockets being open-minded to that outcome, it seems Wall himself is, too. Just check out his Twitter likes, where the five-time All-Star liked a recent comment suggesting that Wall for Westbrook would be a worthwhile move for the Lakers. It should also be noted that Wall is a client of Rich Paul and Klutch Sports, which represents Los Angeles superstars LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
FWIW: John Wall liked this on Twitter. pic.twitter.com/9iK2LAbKID
— HoopsHype (@hoopshype) January 27, 2022
With James having recently turned 37 years old, there’s incentive for the Lakers to maximize whatever prime years he has left. At the moment, Westbrook is clearly struggling to fit in, and the Lakers (26-29) remain below .500 and have lost 10 of their last 15 games. The question is whether that is enough for the Los Angeles front office to give up a future draft asset, which could be valuable given the uncertainty of their franchise’s outlook once James eventually begins to show signs of aging.
The ball is in the Lakers’ court. But if they decide they want it to happen, a deal could come together relatively quickly — since from Houston’s perspective, getting some asset for Wall is better than nothing (since he isn’t playing). While the ultimate answer may not come until Thursday’s 2 p.m. CST deadline, NBA Twitter made its opinions clear in the hours leading up. Scroll on for some of the arguments making the case.
