“He did the opposite of taking load off LeBron” - Bill Simmons believes Russell Westbrook trade is one of the worst trades of the 21st century

The Russell Westbrook trade is one of the biggest reasons why the LA Lakers have been embarrassingly bad this season. LA’s acquisition of Mr. Triple-Double cost them youth, hustle, defense, draft capital and roster flexibility.

They’ve also been unable to capitalize on the former MVP’s strengths, forcing him to be an off-the-ball threat when he’s always been a ball-dominant point guard in his career.

The LA Lakers, who are desperately looking to grab the last play-in ticket in the West, have just lost back-to-back games to the Dallas Mavericks and the Utah Jazz. Without LeBron James and Anthony Davis in the lineup, Russell Westbrook, as he has shown throughout the season, has not been able to carry the Lakers.

In his podcast, Bill Simmons explained how the LA Lakers could not have gotten more wrong in trading for Russell Westbrook:

“It was a complete miscalculation. They go into it thinking, well, ‘He’ll bring us one more scorer, it’s a big three, he’ll take some load off LeBron. He did the opposite of taking load off LeBron…”

Simmons added:

“They caught him at the wrong point of his career. He just is incapable of being a supporting player who does not have the ball. Misread all the way around.”

The veteran sports analyst went as far as saying that the trade isn’t just one of the worst trades this season, but of all time:

“It’s not just bad, it’s not just a complete misevaluation of talent. It’s not just the fact that the Westbrook trade is hands down the worst trade in the last couple of years. And it is in the running for the worst trade of all time… Worst trades of the 21st century, it has to be in the top 5, it has to!”

An argument could easily be made that Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Montrezl Harrell have had a bigger impact on their respective teams than Westbrook. With the way they have been playing, they could arguably have made LeBron James’ MVP level performance more meaningful.

Russell Westbrook’s averages are decent, but the numbers don’t tell the real story. He hasn’t had the impact the Lakers were expecting when they traded the aforementioned players for the nine-time All-Star. Instead of being a solid No. 2 to LeBron James, head coach Frank Vogel has had to bench him, at times in crucial moments, to give the Lakers a chance of winning.

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The LA Lakers and Russell Westbrook are stuck with each other

The LA Lakers will have a very difficult task of moving from Russell Westbrook [Forbes]

The LA Lakers traded a couple of players to sign Westbrook and took on his massive contract, which now seems more and more like an albatross. Just how horribly they miscalculated was evident in reports that they were pushing to trade the former Washington Wizards star by the trade deadline.

LA’s quiet trade deadline spoke volumes of how little flexibility they have with their current situation.

Next season, Russell Westbrook will remain the highest-paid LA Lakers superstar. He’ll be paid $47 million following this campaign while LeBron James gets $44.5 million. Anthony Davis, who is set to earn $37.9 million next season, will undoubtedly have a better chance of getting traded than Westbrook.

The Lakers could find a willing trade partner for the 33-year-old point guard if they include picks. If they do so, they’ll be even more bereft of draft opportunities in the next couple more years. Additionally, they would likely have to eat someone else's bad contract just to extricate themselves from their mess.