Lebron James and the LA Lakers are 8-12 this season, which is thirteenth in the Western Conference. The season started off poorly for LA and Russell Westbrook was struggling. Head coach Darvin Ham made the decision to have Westbrook come off the bench and it improved the team. A proposed trade however, would send Westbrook and two Lakers first round picks to Chicago for two of the Bulls all-stars. 

In a podcast with Bill Simmons, he said that the Lakers should take advantage of the opportunity of a potential trade with Chicago. The proposal would send DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic to the Lakers in exchange for Westbrook and two first-round picks. That would be a blockbuster trade if it were to happen somehow.

Could we see this blockbuster trade happen between LA and Chicago?

If Chicago wanted to revamp their roster this in the future, a trade with the Lakers could be the right move according to Bill Simmons.

“DeRozan and Vucevic to the Lakers for Russ and those two [first-round picks] and make the 27 unprotected, make the 29 top-five protected,”… “If you’re the Lakers, if you’re going to keep Davis, which I think is insane, but it seems like they’re going to. if you’re going to have LeBron.” – Bill Simmons

He explained how Lebron has already expressed his concerns to the Lakers about wasting another year where he’s still competing at a high level.

“LeBron’s already putting out all these feelers for it. ‘You know, you don’t want to waste a great year for me.’ And the West is wide open, so you can talk yourself into it. What happens to [Rob] Pelinka if the trade doesn’t work, he gets fired? He’s gonna get fired anyway.” – Bill Simmons

Ironically, the Lakers had a chance to sign DeRozan in 2021 when the two had mutual interests in potentially signing him. Westbrook is still owed $47 million and the Lakers likely are adding the draft picks on to make trading for Westbrook more appealing. A huge reason behind trading Westbrook is the Lakers want to try and clear up cap space for the 2023-24 season.