“Russell Westbrook is very open to a trade”: ESPN analyst claims Lakers star still unsettled in LA whilst dying trade rumours

Triple-double machine Russell Westbrook will not let his hope of playing for a franchise not named ‘Lakers’ fade away. Not until he must.

Russell Westbrook’s trade has now become a dying ‘talk of the town’ in LA. Although after no team’s interest in offloading their stars and taking on that massive contract of his, it again became a hot subject when the Lakers traded for Patrick Beverley last month.

However, as soon as the guards appeared to have mended up their relationship which was pretty troublesome over the years, that talk started to fade away as well.

But the 2017 MVP had not parted ways with his longtime agent, Thad Foucher, just for the sake of it. He wanted out of LA, to where he would get more respect and play his game.

And an ESPN analyst believes it is still the top priority of the former OKC Thunder and Houston Rockets star.

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Ramona Shelburne claims Russell Westbrook is still open for a trade

In an appearance on the Lowe Post podcast, Ramona Shelburne of ESPN said that the 9x All-Star would surely be up and open about his future to any franchise that appreciates his value.

“Russ is very open to a trade,” Shelburne said. “He hasn’t asked for a trade. I’ve been assured of that. But he’s open to that, and somebody who wants him and wants to empower him and wants him to be Russell Westbrook of old.”

With a fit LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Pat Bev in the starting lineup, he would be running with the second squad more often than not.

And whether the Lakers’ new head coach Darvin Ham accepts it or not, the 33-year-old, 2x scoring champ will not see as much playing time as the last season or like any of his 14 seasons in the league.

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Playing in the last year of one of the biggest yesteryear contracts of the NBA, Russ will need to prove himself to get a decent offer next year and for the Lakers, it might mean disaster, if he stays and tries to achieve that.