Westbrook, Hield, Turner – Five questions to answer before the
After the Indiana Pacers play the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday at Crypto.com Arena and continue on the road to Sacramento, center Myles Turner might have mixed feelings about boarding the team plane instead of staying in L.A.
Last month, after trade talks between the Pacers and Lakers fizzled just before training camp, Turner took the rare tactic of publicly lobbying for the teams to revisit the deal.
“If I’m the Lakers, I take a very hard look at this with the position that you’re in,” Turner said, responding to a question about the potential swap as a guest on ESPN’s “The Woj Pod” with Adrian Wojnarowski. “I know what I can provide for a team — my leadership, my shot-blocking, my 3-point ability and just my ability to make plays out there on the floor.”
The proposed trade, which involved Turner and shooting guard Buddy Hield going to the Lakers and L.A. sending point guard Russell Westbrook and draft capital in return, fell apart when the Lakers backed away, multiple sources told ESPN.
The Lakers decided that giving up both their 2027 and 2029 first-round picks — the only future first-round assets they have in their draft chest — was too steep a price to pay for a haul that wouldn’t indisputably propel them to contender status, sources said.
Plus the Lakers reasoned, sources said, the same deal with the Pacers would still be there down the line should they reengage.
With the Lakers and Pacers meeting on Monday, here are five questions to answer as L.A. considers whether to deal or not to deal.
When could this trade happen?
When the Lakers started the season 0-5, Wojnarowski reported L.A. would wait until around Thanksgiving before looking to upgrade the team. The thinking behind that timing, team sources said, was threefold. Lakers vice president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka wanted to see how the group that was assembled in the offseason, featuring six players from last season’s team, looked together; he wanted to give…
