The Jazz have emerged as one of Russell Westbrook’s potential destinations. A few days ago there was talk that those from Salt Lake City had started talks with the Lakers that involved the point guard, but the possible transfer has been taking shape since then. As reported by Tim MacMahon, a journalist for ESPNboth franchises are negotiating a move that would take Russ to Utah in exchange for Mike Conley and Malik Beasley, although there would still be certain fringes to iron out.
As he assures, everything indicates that the Angelenos would have to include the first two rounds that they can transfer (2027 and 2029) to reach an agreement, something that they were already willing to do to get Kyrie Irving. On the other hand, he also points out that it is possible that the Jazz have to include some other rotation man in the agreement, since right now there would be a difference of about 8.9 million between the salaries received by one party and the other (47 million from Westbrook , 38.1 between Conley and Beasley).
The arrival of Russell, whose contract expires this summer, would allow Utah to free up a lot of the salary bill heading into the upcoming free agency, something they couldn’t do so easily without this move. Conley has a partially guaranteed agreement for the 23-24 season for which he will receive at least 14.3 million, which will become 24.4 million if he is not fired within 48 hours of the draft ceremony, at which time it will become fully guaranteed. Malik’s future, for his part, is more volatile, since he has signed 16.5 million but under a team option, so the team in which the season ends will be able to decide whether to keep him or not. Also, the first two rounds received could be very valuable at a later date, so if you feel these two players are not part of your future, this option could be interesting for you.
The Lakers, for their part, would receive in this agreement an organizing point guard and a scoring guard who could fit better into the team due to their contribution to the outside shot and would give the squad greater depth. It is true that for this they would have to mortgage the future of the team by handing over the famous picksbut at this point this project with LeBron and Davis does not seem to have much more salvation.
(Cover photo: Katelyn Mulcahy/Getty Images)
