Though rumors had swirled before the 2022 trade deadline, the Los Angeles Lakers ultimately decided not to trade Russell Westbrook and a future first-round draft asset to the Houston Rockets for John Wall. That does not mean, however, that the talks can’t be revisited at a later date.
Per Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report, powerful sports agency Klutch Sports — run by Rich Paul, who represents Wall, LeBron James, and Anthony Davis — was not pleased by the Lakers’ choice not to do the deal.
In his column, Pincus writes:
According to multiple NBA sources, Klutch is not happy with (Rob) Pelinka. The sentiment has long percolated, but it reached a boil when Pelinka refused to trade Westbrook and a future first-round pick (likely 2027) for Houston Rockets guard and Klutch client John Wall.
The move didn’t make sense for the Lakers from a basketball standpoint as a significant upgrade over Westbrook, even though Wall averaged 20.6 points and 6.9 assists per game last year. Wall hasn’t played this season, with the Rockets focusing on developing younger players. From the Klutch point of view, the Lakers would get their client out of a bad situation in Houston and undo the Westbrook mistake.
Both Westbrook and Wall will be on large, expiring contracts in the 2022-23 season, so the talks could certainly be revisited in the 2022 offseason, since each player will still be trade eligible by his current team.
Should the Lakers miss the 2022 Western Conference playoffs, or perhaps even if they make it but have an ugly exit in the first round, that could prompt James and Davis to put even more pressure on the Los Angeles front office to make significant changes to the roster. Time will tell.
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