The Indiana Pacers have not won a playoff series in about nine years. They've also never won an NBA championship. In fact, the only time that the franchise appeared in an NBA Finals match-up is when they lost to a Los Angeles Lakers team led by Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant back in 2001. With that being said, even they couldn't help but laugh when the former 17-time world champions came a-calling about a potential multiple-player swap involving Lakers guards Russell Westbrook and Talen Horton-Tucker for Indiana guard Malcolm Brogdon.
“They just gave it a nice chuckle and said ’No thank you, we’ve got better deals on the table than that,’” said NBA draft analyst Jonathon Givony, during an appearance on ESPN's The Lowe Post podcast.
There's no denying that the Los Angeles Lakers have made some very questionable off-season moves, since winning a championship back in 2020. This includes breaking up a championship roster, declining a trade that would have landed them Kyle Lowry, and opting to sign Russell Westbrook as a free agent instead of DeMar DeRozen. Nonetheless, one would think that their prestige alone would come with the respect of not being laughed at when they offer up a 2026 first-round draft pick in a trade proposal, along with a former MVP (who averaged 18.5 points, 7.4 rebounds & 7.1 assists last year) and one of the most sought after prospects from a few years ago in a package deal for a 29-year-old player who has never made an All-Star Team or earned All-NBA honors. Either way, this is no laughing matter for the Los Angeles Lakers, who will be on the hook to shell out $44,211,146 in annual salary to Russell Westbrook this coming season, if they fail to unload his contract beforehand.
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Source: NY Post
