Spurs Should Have Pushed Harder For Russell Westbrook Trade

The San Antonio Spurs hold the worst record in the Western Conference. Should they have pushed harder for a Russell Westbrook trade?

The Los Angeles Lakers had been in a tough spot entering the regular season. There was major concern about whether Russell Westbrook would not only be accepting of a bench role but if it would work over an extended period. It only worsened after the Lakers lost their first five games and got off to a terrible 2-10 start.

Now, Westbrook is thriving in a bench role, and Anthony Davis has since fully bought into being a full-time center (as he always should have). They are now 10-12 and have won eight of their last 10 games. After adding some pieces via trade, they could get interesting. 

There was a period when negative commentary about Westbrook was arguably the most prevalent topic around the NBA. Los Angeles surely would have appreciated a reasonable option to move on from his contract. Now, there is almost little mention of Westbrook beyond being a Sixth Man of the Year contender. 

One team that should strongly regret not pushing harder for a Westbrook trade is the San Antonio Spurs. With San Antonio going from a 5-2 start through seven games to an aggressive nose dive to the bottom of the Western Conference standings with an 11-game losing streak, they missed a real chance to capitalize on their inevitable losing season.

It seems as though almost every NBA team has a "breakout star" through the initial 10-15 games of the season. Then, those pesky scouting reports update and the grind of an 82-game season starts to set in. All of a sudden, players go from averaging an unsustainable 20+ points per game to fans scratching their heads wondering what happened, and when is it going to turn around.

There may not be a better example around the NBA of a fools gold rise to stardom than Keldon Johnson. He signed a four-year, $74 million contract extension in the offseason after averaging 17.0 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 2.1 assists with respectable efficiency. 

Johnson is averaging a career-high 20.4 points per game, but is doing so while shooting just 39.3 percent from the floor and 34.6 percent from 3-point range. His production started out hot with an average of 23.9 points while shooting 43.5 percent from deep on 8.9 attempts per game, but has since completely cratered. 

There's still plenty of time this season and beyond for Johnson to continue his ascent in his career. He just doesn't appear suited right now to be a top option in a successful NBA offense. Devin Vassell has been more consistent in his production, but regardless, he also isn't ready for that type of role. 

The Spurs could allow Johnson and Vassell to continue to shoulder more responsibility than they probably should on a nightly basis had they done a Westbrook trade or not. The main difference? They would have better positioned themselves for the future in terms of assets. 

At the very least, Westbrook could have been sent home and been away from the team like the Houston Rockets had done later in John Wall's tenure. Westbrook's contract will expire after this season, anyway. Alternatively, a buyout could have been a logical choice, too.

For now, the Spurs still have Jakob Poeltl on an expiring contract with his trade value decreasing as the days go on, considering he will reach unrestricted free agency in the summer. Veterans like Doug McDermott and Josh Richardson will have trade value at the deadline, but they aren't going to command major needle moving deals. 

The Spurs could have even kept Poelt and perhaps leveraged their NBA-leading salary cap space to absorb a significant portion of Westbrook's salary in a trade — making it all the more enticing for the Lakers by creating a trade exception in the process. 

While dropping the asking price is less than ideal, doing so could have been the right move to get a deal done before the Lakers turned their season around as they seemingly have already done. 

Other rebuilding NBA franchises have done a tremendous job of stacking up future draft capital. The Spurs have done that already with the Atlanta Hawks by trading Dejounte Murray. Imagine adding a draft asset from the Lakers during a time when LeBron James would be long gone at that point? 

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