The Los Angeles Lakers shook the NBA by making a trade that brought Russell Westbrook to the team from the Washington Wizards. The arrival of the former NBA MVP formed a big three in LA along with LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
Westbrook’s signing had financial implications on the Lakers. The team went over the cap and was forced to adjust its roster planning accordingly. James, Davis and Westbrook are taking around 90 percent of the total payroll which leaves little room for other players.
According to Lakers owner Jeanie Buss, that was the reason that made the team turn to veteran players, who would accept to take a pay cut in order to get a chance at winning a championship.
When it comes to signing Westbrook, she thinks that he will enjoy his time wearing Purple and Gold and will be well received by the fans due to being from LA.
Via Daniel Kaplan of The Athletic:
“We’re over the cap. We have really no room. When we made that trade (for Westbrook), we knew we’d have to fill the roster with seven or eight players at the veterans minimum. And so trying to convince players to come on one-year deals for the minimum is a challenge. So you get a lot of guys that are willing to take less money for the opportunity to possibly go for a championship, or play in a city that has other opportunities as they transition to the next part of their career. And we kind of had to capitalize on that because we’ve got three players taking up 90 percent of our payroll, and certainly, Russell Westbrook. You know we’ve got a big three now, and Russell is somebody that’s from L.A., went to UCLA, and I think our fans are going to be just cuckoo for him, are going to be so happy that he’s here. It’s like the return of one of our own.”
