This 3-team blockbuster lands Russell Westbrook on Boston Celtics

At this point in time, three of the NBA’s most historical franchises…well, truly two but we’ll play along and say three…are in the midst of some troubling times. The Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers, and New York Knicks are all sitting at .500 or worse with the NBA season coming up on the halfway point.

None of the above rosters appear ready for postseason action, and at this current rate, none of them might end up there. Being in an NBA Play-in game is a scary place to be given the stakes.

Hardwood Houdini figured we’d play on the Russell Westbrook-Boston Celtics chatter that was sparked this past week by Hoopshype’s Yossi Gozlan and create a cure-all three-way trade to give all three teams the necessary components to excel in the second half of the season.

Why the Boston Celtics do it

Russell Westbrook could be the necessary kick-starter to a Boston Celtics offense increasingly reliant on the isolation talents of the ‘Jays’ to keep the ball moving and create transition looks by invading passing lanes.

The Cs give up quite a bit to bring him on, but it’s a worthwhile gamble to see if he could be the third star in Boston needed to get this group over the hump.

Why the New York Knicks do it

It’s possible, if not fully likely, that the New York Knicks will fade out of postseason contention first out of these three teams. In fact, it may happen by the time the trade deadline rolls around if the Cs can sweep their upcoming home-and-home and postseason hopefuls like the Dallas Mavericks, Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets, and Minnesota Timberwolves get the best of them too.

Should they want to have a cleaner slate this coming offseason, they could get out of the long-term money of Julius Randle and Alec Burks and start building around the younger pieces.

Why the Los Angeles Lakers do it

We know that Anthony Davis and Julius Randle work well together, so putting that duo with LeBron James could give the Lakers three scorers built to physically dominate in postseason play.

Of course, Randle’s playoff run with the Knicks last year was highly disappointing, but he’d be way better off as the (distant) third option behind the ‘king’ and the ‘brow’.

Alec Burks and Josh Richardson are high-level guards that would fit well in a lineup built to can open looks created by three top-flight scorers.