WHY TRADE RUSSELL BEFORE THE PG DEAL IS SETTLED???

This bit of history is for the people who are currently complaining about doing the Russell deal before the Paul George deal is all set.

When Jerry West was trying to get Shaq for the team, he first traded off their starting Center (and one of their best players) for the #13 pick in the draft. At the time there was no guarantee that Kobe was going to be a top 10 player all time... he was a high school kid with a lot of potential, nothing more.

But that also gave West enough cap space to make a decent offer to Shaq. It wasn't high enough, but it was more than Orlando was offering at the time. But West had already traded away Divac.

Then West traded away two other Laker first round picks and good players, Anthony Peeler and George Lynch for basically nothing to free up more cap space. Then they made a bigger offer to Shaq

Basically at that point, West had traded away 3 of the Lakers top 6 players with no guarantee that it would get them Shaq. The deals were done. Their players were gone. If Orlando had out bid the Lakers (and they could... they had bird rights on Shaq), then they'd have given up all that stuff for a scrawny kid out of Pennsylvania (who turned out to be alright).

I'm sure if there were blogs back then, there would be 100 rabid Laker fans screaming how Jerry West wrecked the team - he traded off half the team and there's no guarantee that they'd get Shaq... F*** Jerry West! But in hind sight, it worked out. They gave up a lot. WAY more than Magic/Pelinka have given up this summer. And in the end it worked out.

Sometimes you have to take a chance. If the Lakers pulls off the deal and get Paul George, then Magic and Pelinka win the bet and the Lakers get better. If they don't get PG, then they lose, though they do get some small benefits for the loss of Russell - a pick and a salary dump. But it won't be the first time the Lakers gamble trying to add a really good player.