It’s that time of the year now, the regular season is coming to a close and the drama surrounding Russ is going to be news for the coming months. It’s pretty likely in my eyes that LA will look to trade Russ and realistically I only see 4 teams that would be both willing to trade for Russ and put together trade packages with enough intriguing pieces that the Lakers would accept (or at least I would accept if I were them). Before you get to reading, I just want to make it clear that this is just a rough outline of what the trades could look like, obviously trades are usually way more complicated than these, these are just the core pieces I think are most likely to be involved in a trade for Russ.

Scenario #1

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If I were the Lakers, I would pursue a trade like this the hardest, I really like the haul the Lakers would get back. Brogdon does have some injury problems, but when he’s on the court he’s both an efficient scorer (besides this season) and a solid defender as well as a good playmaker who would be capable of playing off ball next to Lebron. TJ is a great backup PG option, he’s smart with the ball and he’s a real hustle player especially on defense, similar to Caruso although admittedly he is on the smaller side of guards. I’m also super high on the potential of Isaiah Jackson as a young energetic insurance policy in case AD goes down. There was a stretch of 10 games that Jackson started this season where he averaged 2.6 BPG with respectable shooting, scoring, and rebounding. He gets in foul trouble a lot but that can be resolved with experience. I really like the haul the Lakers would get in case Indiana were looking to sell some tickets or something in order to get Russ.

Scenario #2

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A trade like this is probably what I would expect to happen the most, because the Knicks are historically dumb and getting a star player and big name to their team like Russ is a money grabbing move that Dolan would be greedy enough to take. LA would still get a decent haul from NY, they at least get a solid wing defender in Cam Reddish, although his 3pt shooting is still a question mark. Fournier and Rose would help out there though, and Rose would be a solid PG for them, although his defense leaves a lot to be desired and injuries are always a concern, although Fournier is a capable ball handler as well.

Scenario #3

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Of my current scenarios, this is the one I would least expect to happen. Jonathan Isaac is a very intriguing piece, we haven’t seen him play since New Years Day 2020, but the last time we saw him on the court, he was averaging over 4 combined steals blocks a game looking like a DPOY candidate that can legit guard 1-5. I feel like Orlando, even given his injury history, would be stupid to give him up, but if Isaac were switched out for Mo Bamba, Orlando may be compelled to make that trade (I think they’d more likely give up Mo than WCJ personally). Fultz is still not a floor spacer, but his midrange is good and he’s a solid playmaker, and Okeke is a bit undersized but has real potential to be a 3&D stretch 4, kind of like Draymond but without the playmaking, so the haul for LA is still decent.

Scenario #4

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It’s come out from Marc Stein that the Hornets are a possible team that could make a deal for Russ by trading one of Gordon Hayward or Terry Rozier, and Kelly Oubre. I think the Lakers should accept Terry in that scenario because he’s younger, less injury prone, and you’re already gonna get a big wing in the trade who’s actually a solid defender, you wouldn’t need another one, especially another below average defender. Bouknight & Jones are young and spry, and have potential to be sparkplugs off the bench, especially Bouknight, I’m pretty high on his ceiling after seeing him at Uconn, needs to work on shot selection though.

I’ve also seen rumblings of a potential Houston trade, but I see no chance of that happening at all. 1 of 2 scenarios would happen there, either Houston trades John Wall for Russ, which the Lakers would be stupid to do because Wall has the exact same playstyle and issues as Russ, but he’s way more injury prone which makes him an even worse fit. Or Houston packages something along the lines of Eric Gordon, Christian Wood, David Nwaba, and maybe a pick or two, and have Russ on the same fucking team as John Wall, which Houston would be stupid to do. Plus Houston is trying to rebuild, and no way they’d want 2 guys making $47mil each on their roster, so I see no chance of a Houston trade. The 4 teams I outlined are, to me, the most likely destinations and trade packages that I see happening should Russ be traded this offseason.

What’d you guys think? Do you see another team potentially wanting Russ? How likely is it that he stays in LA, or possibly gets waived (which I think won’t happen)?