13 Reasons Why: The Lakers Should Not Have Traded D'Angelo Russell

The rules are pretty simple. Rule number one: you read. Number two: you pass it on. It's not supposed to be easy, or I would have emailed you a PDF. When you're done reading all 13 points, because there are 13 sides to every story, scroll back up, copy the URL, and pass it on to the next person.

1. D'Angelo Russell was the best young player on the Lakers.
2. His stock was low. They could have traded him later when his stock was higher.
3. The return is incredibly risky. Yes, they acquired Brook Lopez, but they essentially got cap space and Kyle Kuzma since Lopez is basically a one-year rental.
4. The Celtics seem primed to trade for Paul George. According to CBS Boston's Adam Kaufman, the Celtics are waiting for free agency, especially to sign Gordon Hayward, to trade for Paul George and sign him to a three-extension.
5. Athletes love playing in Boston and that great fan base. Add to it that the Celtics are a contender and there was a report in March from Zach Lowe that George would love to play with Hayward and it seems unlikely George would bolt to Los Angeles after playing a year in Boston on that loaded roster and great coach in Brad Stevens.
6. Now with Paul George unlikely to come to LA, this makes LeBron James less likely to be a Laker.
7. With George and James off the table, this means that there are two "superstar" free agents left in Russell Westbrook and DeMarcus Cousins. Pelinka has expressed the plan is to get two superstar free agents next summer. Furthermore, LeBron would not join Westbrook or Cousins since neither fits LeBron's skillset with both being too ball dominant, Westbrook being too redundant, and Cousins clogging up the lane, thus being relegated to just an outside shooter a la Chris Bosh and Kevin Love.
8. Russell Westbrook will 30 years old going into the 2018-19 season. Point guards under 6'5" that shoot under 45 percent from the field do not age well whether it is Stephon Marbury, Steve Francis, Gilbert Arenas, etc. Heck, even Allen Iverson did not get past the first round after age 26 despite having 20-and-10 Chris Webber and Carmelo Anthony as teammates. Throw in a few injuries from the past and this gives even more concern for Westbrook's future.
9. How good is a core of Lonzo Ball, Russell Westbrook, Brandon Ingram, and DeMarcus Cousins? Does that ever win anything? The Lakers' franchise is about titles and even if everything goes right for this potential core, I doubt that it gets past the Warriors or possibly the second round.
10. You might be asking where Julius Randle is. Well, his cap hit is potentially $12 million if he re-signs next summer as a restricted free agent which means do not be surprised if he is moved before the deadline next season, which circles back to this question: why move D'Angelo Russell instead of Julius Randle? Russell is a better prospect, but they could have found a way to dump Randle along with Luol Deng or Timofey Mozgov instead. Randle is a very talented young player who will contend for a double-double every night and get teammates involved. That has significant value on the open market.
11. The Lakers traded their only good 3-point shooter and pick n' roll (PNR) player. Ball is great in transition pushing the pace getting guys in spaces to make plays. Guess who played that role last year for the Lakers? That would be Julius Randle. Now, the Lakers will have redundancy going forward and lack a PNR playmaker while Ball develops.
12. The Lakers' guards consist of Ball, David Nwaba, Josh Hart, and Jordan Clarkson. Tyler Ennis and Nick Young are free agents. The Lakers need guards badly. Now with the addition of Kuzma, the Lakers have Deng, Randle, and Larry Nance that all only really play the 4. Kuzma might play some 3 and same as Deng (although we saw how that worked out last season). Tarik Black's contract is not guaranteed for next season so we do not know if he will be on the roster. Anyways, trading Randle softens that logjam because there is no Kuzma via trade and they still get cap space and keep Russell so the guard depth is not nearly as thin and the Lakers do not need to overpay in free agency.
13. Lastly, the Lakers did not need to pull this trade now. They could have waited until the trade deadline or next offseason and at least experiment how this young roster fits. Since free agency comes after the draft, they could have made moves next year's draft instead. Maybe Ball and Russell would have worked together. If they did not, then trade the lesser of the two. Maybe Russell really was toxic in the locker room. Other than the Nick Young incident from a year ago and Byron Scott being Byron Scott, there has not been a single report on Russell being a locker room cancer so I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for now.