Lakers have no intention of giving up first-round pick to trade Russell Westbrook, per report

A year ago, the Los Angeles Lakers wanted Russell Westbrook badly enough to give up a first-round pick and several rotation players to land him in a draft-day deal with the Washington Wizards. Since then, his value has plummeted. He had a disastrous debut season in Los Angeles punctuated by an exit interview lacking in any shred of self-awareness. Westbrook just had the worst season of his career and refused to accept an ounce of blame for it. Now, he’s the sort of player who a team should have to give up draft picks just to get rid of.

But the Lakers appear unwilling to do so. According to The Athletic, they have “no intention” of including a first-round pick in a deal just to dump Westbrook. What exactly that means is unclear. If they are unwilling to include a pick in a deal that would purely dump Westbrook, that might be a defensible position. Getting rid of Westbrook would only be one small step toward fixing what went wrong last season. If the Lakers are truly unwilling to surrender a first-round pick in any Westbrook deal, though, including ones in which they get back players who could help them win next season, then they are going to find it almost impossible to trade Westbrook.

Source: https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/lakers-have-no-intention-of-giving-up-first-round-pick-to-trade-russell-westbrook-per-report/