After fruitless NBA trade deadline, what comes next for the Lakers and Russell Westbrook?

The NBA Trade Deadline has come and gone, and the Los Angeles Lakers roster that we will wake up to tomorrow is the same one that has caused many a fan, player and executive plenty of sleepless nights. Following another trade deadline in which Rob Pelinka sat on the sidelines, everyone is looking around for answers that don’t appear on their way until after this season finally (and mercifully) ends.

Other than that, what a fun day!

Russell Westbrook and his frayed relationship with Frank Vogel is still around, the roster is still devoid of consistent two-way wings, LeBron James and Anthony Davis are clearly exhausted, and on top of it all, Pelinka can’t even enjoy a nice day at Disneyland. To discuss all this and more, Harrison Faigen and I went live for a special edition of “The Lakers Lounge.”

Heading in, keeping it light seemed basically impossible because this season has been such a downer, but we tried. We really did. The idea that everyone has been so incompetent that fans might consider it realistic that Pelinka would be caught at Disneyland on deadline day is as amazing as it is depressing, so we spent a decent amount of time laughing about that viral (and false) Twitter moment.

We also discussed the buyout market, whether the Lakers will be willing to eat dead money to get involved with free agents this year, and what else can be done to salvage the season. Hell, we even wondered what salvaging this year might even look like. It’s bleak as hell, y’all. Real bleak.

Finally, Harrison and I tried to answer what the Lakers can do about the Westbrook situation. On one hand, there is time to turn things around. On the other, there has been very little indication things can take said turn. If things continue to erode between him and Vogel, someone is going to have to go, so we discussed the levels to that decision should it get made.

To keep up with all the latest reports before the deadline, check out our 2022 Lakers trade rumors tracker. You can listen to the full episode below, and to make sure you never miss a show, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts.

And for a short-form recap pod, check out Lakers Lowdown, in which Anthony Irwin recaps the previous day’s news and gets you ready for the day ahead in LakerLand, every weekday morning on the Silver Screen & Roll Podcast feed.