Lakers have not ruled out waiving Russell Westbrook

The Lakers, league sources say, have not ruled out simply parting ways with Westbrook via the waive-and-stretch provision. A straight release of Westbrook that essentially transforms his mammoth player option for next season into what lives on their books as a three-year deal in the $15 million range annually would move the Lakers out of luxury-tax territory and make it far easier for them to retain free agent-to-be Malik Monk, who at times has unexpectedly appeared to be the Lakers’ most dependable player not named LeBron James throughout a nightmarish 31-48 campaign. Facilitating Monk’s return might be reason enough for the Lakers to go this route and is expected, league sources say, to be under consideration.
Source: Marc Stein @ marcstein.substack.com

What’s the buzz on Twitter?

Kyle Goon @kylegoon
The Lakers are sitting LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook, raising the possibility that their once-hopeful superteam experiment has ended before it ever achieved anything of note: ocregister.com/2022/04/07/lak… – 4:23 PM Ryan Ward @RyanWardLA
If you didn’t hear about it already, the Lakers’ Big 3 won’t play tonight in San Francisco, according to Lakers PR:
Anthony Davis (right mid-foot sprain), LeBron James (left ankle sprain) and Russell Westbrook (right shoulder soreness) are OUT for tonight’s game at Golden State. – 3:44 PM Emiliano Carchia @Sportando
Lakers: LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Russell Westbrook out tonight against Warriors sportando.basketball/en/lakers-lebr… – 2:57 PM Mark Haynes @markhaynesnba
The Golden State Warriors could get an easy victory tonight with LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, and Anthony Davis out for the Lakers. – 2:19 PM Mark Medina @MarkG_Medina
Lakers rule out Anthony Davis (right mid-foot sprain), LeBron James (left ankle sprain) and Russell Westbrook (right shoulder soreness) for tonight’s game at Golden State. – 2:16 PM Kyle Goon @kylegoon
The Big Three are out tonight against Golden State:
– LeBron with ankle soreness
– Anthony Davis with foot soreness
– Russell Westbrook with right shoulder soreness
The trio played 21 games together this season (11-10), and that might be all they ever play together. – 2:16 PM Brad Turner @BA_Turner
Lakers say that LeBron James (Left ankle sprain), Anthony Davis (Right mid-foot sprain) and Russell Westbrook (Right shoulder soreness) are all OUT for tonight’s game vs. Golden State – 2:14 PM Shams Charania @ShamsCharania
Lakers’ LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook are listed out vs. Warriors tonight. – 2:13 PM Mike Trudell @LakersReporter
LeBron (left ankle sprain), Davis (right mid-foot sprain) and Westbrook (right shoulder soreness) are all out against Golden State tonight. – 2:12 PM Josh Martin @LonzoWire
Could the Hornets team LaMelo Ball up with Russell Westbrook? lonzowire.usatoday.com/2022/04/07/mar… – 1:41 PM Marc Stein @TheSteinLine
Trading Russell Westbrook … options already on the Lakers’ board, what rival teams project, proceeding straight to waive-and-stretch … ALL covered in today’s piece: marcstein.substack.com/p/trading-russ… – 11:09 AM Justin Kubatko @jkubatko
Trae Young last night:
30 PTS
11 AST
11-12 FT
It’s the 20th time Young has recorded at least 30p/10a in a game this season, the third-most such games since the ABA-NBA merger:
29 – James Harden, 2016-17
26 – Russell Westbrook, 2016-17
20 – Young, 2021-22 pic.twitter.com/hxVLZX89TM – 9:11 AM Dave McMenamin @mcten
Russell Westbrook has been added to the Lakers’ injury report for Thursday in Golden State as questionable with right shoulder soreness. LeBron James (left ankle sprain) and Anthony Davis (right mid-foot sprain) remain questionable – 8:06 PM Brad Turner @BA_Turner
The Lakers list LeBron James (left ankle sprain), Anthony Davis (right foot) and Russell Westbrook (right shoulder soreness) as questionable for game at Warriors. – 7:51 PM Ryan Ward @RyanWardLA
Anthony Davis, LeBron James AND Russell Westbrook are listed as QUESTIONABLE for tomorrow’s game against the Warriors: pic.twitter.com/kEPU7AW74V – 7:50 PM Jorge Sierra @hoopshype
Lakers offseason preview: What to do with Russell Westbrook, LeBron’s extension and more.
hoopshype.com/lists/lakers-o… – 3:49 PM Adam Zagoria @AdamZagoria
Among the names on the list for the WNBA Draft:
Olivia Nelson-Ododa, UConn
Christyn Williams, UConn
Evina Westbrook, UConn
Destanni Henderson, South Carolina – 3:21 PM Bob Garcia @bgarciaivsports
Russell Westbrook is irrational to believe the #Lakers will bring him back.
#Lakeshow #NBA
sportscasting.com/russell-westbr… – 2:04 PM

More on this storyline

Jake Fischer: The Rockets, from my understanding, have some type of belief that Russ would be more willing to accept the buyout. -via marcstein.substack.com / March 26, 2022 Jousting with reporters in press conferences is apparently not the lone source of pushback these days from under-fire guard Russell Westbrook. There has been no shortage of defiance behind the scenes, I’m told, when coaches and teammates have tried to broach changes in role or approach with the former MVP. For all the obvious complexities involved in trying to move Westbrook when he’s owed a whopping $47 million next season at age 34, one league source described the idea of bringing him back next season as “impossible” based on current tension levels. The question then becomes: If the Lakers can’t construct a palatable trade, do they try to just buy Westbrook out? Or waive and stretch him? -via marcstein.substack.com / March 5, 2022 LeBron James was a strong advocate for the trade that brought Westbrook to Hollywood and thus has to wear his considerable slice of culpability for how poorly things are working out. Yet one source did point out at least one counter on James’ behalf, noting that he was also one of the organization’s staunchest Alex Caruso fans and badly wanted the Lakers to re-sign the defensive-minded guard. The Lakers, despite all of their considerable revenue streams, refused to offer a contract on par with the four-year, $37 million deal Caruso landed from Chicago because of the luxury-tax implications. The injuries that have limited Davis to 37 games have done the most damage to the Lakers’ 17th-ranked defense, but Caruso’s departure was another big hit. 1:28 -via marcstein.substack.com / March 5, 2022