Lakers Hold all the Cards

Now that the dust has settled with Kevin Durant leaving Oklahoma City there is a lot of speculation as to where Russell Westbrook will be next season. Westbrook is an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season. This means Westbrook can field offers from every team that has cap space to sign him. Westbrook also has the option of signing a long term extension that would give him more money. The question is if Westbrook does not sign an extension where will he end up? 

From rumors going around right now it is believed Westbrook would like to be a Los Angles Laker. He is an L.A. guy, even playing for UCLA in college. If the Thunder feel that Westbrook is leaving, Oklahoma City will try to trade him to get anything in return. Knowing that the Lakers are a real option for Westbrook, OKC might try to cut a deal with Los Angles that would land them good young talent.

Julius Randle, D'Angelo Russell, Jordan Clarkson, Brandon Ingram

The Lakers are salivating at the chance to get Westbrook and would like to get him in L.A. as soon as possible. But the Lakers have to realize that they have the upper hand in any deal. The Lakers have built a very good young core that in a few years could become competitive. Giving up any of those pieces will be hard, but it will make them competitive instantly by adding Westbrook. The problem is giving up too much for Westbrook. The Lakers need to make Brandon Ingram off limits. In no way should the Lakers trade him, because in a few years they will be kicking themselves for trading him. Also in a package for Westbrook they should only include two young players maximum. Giving up three young players for one guy is asking a lot. I only say this because three of the five starters are still on rookie contracts. That means they don't need to match money using all of their contracts. If anything the Lakers should look to trade another one of these young players for someone they can put along side Westbrook. So using up all their trade bait would leave them with one superstar and no leverage to add another guy.

And if the Lakers do not get an offer they like they should say no. Los Angles needs to remember that if they cannot add Westbrook this year they could always sign him next off season. Los Angles has made so much progress in their rebuild and they are about two to three years from being competitive with what they have. They have already suffered for three years so they have to be careful with the decisions they make. 

From the Thunder side of things Sam Presti should be pushing for Westbrook to sign an extension. If he does not sign it then Presti should trade Westbrook as soon as possible. This is where Presti can take advantage of the Lakers. Their starting five have not played a single game together yet and the Lakers will be without Kobe Bryant this year. This means they will all get their touches and have the opportunity to prove themselves. If it turns out that the core the Lakers have play well up to the trade deadline, they might be hesitant to trade for Westbrook knowing that their current pieces have shown their potential. And this will decrease the package they would put together for Westbrook. Presti needs to play off of the Lakers uncertainty about the group they have and take advantage of it by trading before the season starts. It will get Presti more in return and the Lakers will have Westbrook for a full season. It should be interesting to see how everything unfolds.

Pursuing Lance Stephenson

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NBA free agency has progressed very far to this point, but there is still one name on the market that many teams are on the fence about. That guy is Lance Stephenson. Memphis decided not to pick up Stephenson's team option for next year making him an unrestricted free agent. Stephenson has not had much success since leaving Indiana in 2014. Stephenson had a miserable year with Charlotte before getting traded to the Clippers during the 2015 off-season. Stephenson did not see much playing time in L.A. averaging about 15 minutes per game in the 43 games he suited up for. Here is what makes Stephenson an attractive free agent right now. Stephenson was traded to Memphis at the trade deadline and not long after being traded all of Memphis' key players went down with injuries. This allowed Stephenson to get more playing time and be the primary ball handler. Stephenson played very well during his short stint with Memphis averaging 14.2 points, 2.8 assists, and 4.4 rebounds per game. He managed to achieve these numbers while playing only 26 minutes per game. To put in a better perspective Lance averaged 19.2 points, 3.8 assists, and 6 rebounds per 36 minutes. Those are respectable numbers in the NBA.

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The question is what team does Lance Stephenson fit on. Stephenson is good at creating for himself and others when he is on the floor so he would be a good primary ball handler for a team lacking someone that can create. Also Stephenson has not played very well coming in as a deep bench guy. He plays at his best being the sixth man or as a starter. That means teams with plenty of depth might take a look at him, but probably won't extend an offer. And finally Lance has a reputation of being a locker room problem. Now in his last two stops we didn't here much of this, but he had two very well respected coaches and many veterans around him.

With all this said Stephenson may fit in on multiple teams. His best fit would probably be Orlando or Brooklyn. Orlando just traded their primary offensive ball handler so adding Stephenson to the team would slightly make up for losing Oladipo. Plus him and coach Vogel have a good relationship that they developed when Stephenson was under him in Indiana. The only problem here is it could stunt the growth of Elfrid Payton. Payton is in position to become the leader of this team. Each play would start with him and he would be the floor general. This is great opportunity for Payton who is in his third year in the league. Bringing in Stephenson could ruin this opportunity.

Getty Images/ Vaughn Ridley

For Brooklyn, they are in bad shape right now. Brooklyn seems all over the place. They have quite a few young players now, yet they signed four veterans. I would hope they are just there for locker room presence because the Nets should be developing all their young talent. With that said, the Nets don't have a primary ball handler that can create and make things happen. The closest thing they have would be Jeremy Lin or Randy Foye. Caris Levert and Sean Kilpatrick might become players that can create their own shot, but they are still young and really have to prove it next season. So bringing in Lance Stephenson to this team could be a plus. He would get plenty of playing time and would become the number 2 option on the team behind Brook Lopez. The problem again with bringing Lance to Brooklyn is he would stunt the growth of all the young players by taking up playing time and he could also become a locker room problem. For a first year coach having a guy that is know for disrupting a locker room, it might not be the ideal situation.

That leads me to my final two teams. The Warriors and the Cavaliers. These teams will fit the same categories since they offer the same situation for Stephenson. Stephenson would go to a team that is looking to compete for a championship and would most likely replace any bench depth that these teams lost this off-season. It would be a great opportunity for Lance to grow and learn from the best. The down fall to playing on these teams is Stephenson will not play much at all. He will be there to play on nights where guys need rest or if an injury plague hits. If he can accept a back seat roll one of these two teams would be the best option for him.

Dwyane Wade to Cleveland?

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In the wake of Kevin Durant making his decision to join the Golden State Warriors. The Cavaliers may have to find a way to upgrade their roster more. With that said Dwyane Wade is still on the free agent market after talks with Miami have stalled. Multiple teams are looking to sign Wade and the Bucks and Nuggets are offering Wade a max contract. The chances of Wade leaving Miami for Denver or Milwaukee are very slim.

Today rumors are have it that Dwyane Wade is in talks with the Cavaliers. By no means is it a guarantee that Wade will join the Cavs, but the fact he is even talking to them it's a start. The Cavaliers have one way of getting Wade in Cleveland and it would be very easy. Wade can join the team on a mini-mid level exception. That means Wade would make $3.5 million per year. That is $16.5 million less than what Miami is offering and a low offer for someone of his talent. The more realistic option would be to make some trades and free up cap room for Wade. Iman Shumpert and Kevin Love would probably be one of the pieces to trade. The problem then is that Cleveland would lose bench depth. The Warriors were able to sign Durant by only giving up Barnes and Bogut. Ezeli will also most likely be on his way out. The thing is that Durant is a huge upgrade that these pieces are worth losing for him.

With that said it is hard to imagine Wade in Cleveland, but the Cavs could probably free up about $9 million in cap space as well as offer Wade the best shot at winning an NBA title. LeBron could really use Wade right now in the wake of the Kevin Durant decision and Wade may feel the need to help. At the end of the day it is most likely that Wade stays in Miami, but do not be surprised if he is willing to take much less to compete. He is going to turn 35 next season so maybe he will realize he can still get a few more titles if he is willing to take less. Or he can opt stay in Miami and collect big pay checks at the risk of being bounced in the first and second round for the rest of his career. These are all the things Dwyane Wade is thinking about right now and will ultimately help him in his final decision.