Where do the Lakers look now for a Russell Westbrook trade?

While the Lakers have tried to remain patient in their attempts to trade Russell Westbrook throughout this offseason, that hasn’t necessarily led to positive results. The very fact that Westbrook remains on the roster is evidence of it not being a fruitful plan.

Donovan Mitchell’s trade from Utah to Cleveland caught the league, and perhaps the Lakers, by surprise. Having positioned themselves as a third team in a potential Jazz-Knicks trade for Mitchell, the Lakers were left hanging.

On today’s episode of “Can U Dig It,” a podcast by the Silver Screen & Roll network, I am joined by Alex Torres of LakersOutsiders to discuss the updated future of Russ and the Lakers. While they can no longer be a third team in a Mitchell trade, there is still something left on the table for a potential deal with the Jazz.

With Utah having a number of high-priced role players, a trade makes sense in theory with the likes of Bojan Bogdanovic, Mike Conley and Jordan Clarkson all making sense in different ways for the Lakers. But negotiating with Danny Ainge is never a pleasant experience and could lead to long, exhausting negotiations.

All of that means it feels more likely than ever that Russ returns to the Lakers to start training camp. Is that even a tenable option, especially given the recent acquisition of Patrick Beverley, who is effectively Russ’ mortal enemy.

You can listen to all that and more on our latest episode in the player embedded below, and to make sure you don’t miss a single one moving forward, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts.

You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude. 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.