Russell Westbrook’s move to the bench has flipped the script in L.A. while the Utah Jazz continue to defy the odds and become that much tougher to work out.
Plus — a “rare” rookie is making history while a contender may be regretting a big swing over the offseason.
That, and more, in our NBA Talking Points.
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Fri, 11 Nov
Friday November 11th
Of course, suitors trading for Westbrook comes with additional risk due to his erratic personality. But could his renewed lease as a sixth man have improved his trade value enough to help the Lakers cough up less? Moreover, would this revitalised version of Westbrook be the version a team gets? “Russ needs to keep this up and everybody is going to be on body language watch, words watch, scale of 1-10 how surly are the press conferences watch – all of that stuff,” Locked on Lakers’ Andy Kamenetzky said. “It’s likely going to be one of those things where a team may ask for permission to talk to Russ or his agent. You’re going to want to find out … was this he’s in LA trying for whatever reason make it work with this team, because he wanted to save face with the Lakers? “Or has ‘Russ’ bought into this as a career path moving forward, or if nothing else, on a competitive team this season. “Because if you really feel the intel is solid that the intel is yes, then yeah, Russ may have actually increased his practical trade value around the league. “The way he’s playing right now, he could help any team in the league as a bench player.” Westbrook’s $47 million expiring deal could be valuable for a team looking to open salary cap space in the off-season. But given his contract is so big, it still makes it complicated for the Lakers to pull off any sort of move. Lakers should keep Russ and trade AD? | 01:14 LA has reportedly discussed a deal with Indiana in a package that would send Myles Turner and Buddy Hield back the other way, although the Pacers have exceeded expectations so far at 5-5 and may look to keep their core together. Similarly, Utah has also been linked to Westbrook, but the Jazz have blown pre-season expectations out of the park with the third best record in the league at 9-3. So instead of shedding Westbrook’s salary along with a pick or two to get useful pieces in return for immediate help, the Lakers could explore being sellers and moving him to a team looking to bolster their bench. This would likely be a pure salary dump depending on what the Lakers take back in such a move, but the point is his uptick in form as a reserve as opened up options for the team. “It occurred to me as this experiment kept getting better that the one assumption that has definitely changed is that I don’t know if it’s clear that a team that acquires Westbrook would automatically send him home and he’s a number on a page,” Locked on Lakers’ Brian Kamenetzky added. “He actually looks like he could be a valuable player for a team.” ‘RARE’ ROOKIE MAKING HISTORY FOR SURPRISE PACKETS Bennedict Mathurin proved he was fearless before even stepping foot on an NBA court when the rookie raised eyebrows with comments about LeBron James before he was drafted. “A lot of people say he’s great,” Mathurin said of James. “I want to see how great he is. I don’t think anybody is better than me. He’s going to have to show me he’s better than me.” It was not so much that Mathurin was taking a shot at James or his status in the game but rather a show of confidence from the former University of Arizona guard. Mathurin knew he had to back up those words and he is doing just that already, putting himself firmly in the Rookie of the Year conversation and even Sixth Man of the Year talks. The Pacers rookie leads all bench players in the league when it comes to points, 3-pointers made, free throws and minutes. Having fallen behind early against Denver on Thursday, Indiana was in desperate need of spark of the bench and found it in Mathurin, who erupted for 18 points in the second quarter. It was the most points by a rookie in any quarter in the franchise’s history, while he also put his name in the team’s record books with 23 points and five 3-pointers in the first half. “The second quarter was spectacular,” Indiana coach Rick Carlisle said. “The one thing that I’m so impressed with him is he is just undaunted. He just continues to play his game, doesn’t get down and continues to have a strong belief in his abilities. He is an attacker. He is a rare young player that’s just unfazed.” The Pacers fell just short against the Nuggets, going down 122-119 in the end as back-to-back MVP Nikola Jokic came up clutch with 11 points in the fourth quarter. Mathurin (30 points) and Tyrese Haliburton (21 points, 11 assists) though continue to be bright spots for Indiana, with both shaping as long-term pieces for the team to build around. It is not like Mathurin’s sudden emergence is the product of simply turning up on the court either, as Haliburton explained in an interview with The Ringerthis week. “He’s the only guy I’ve ever seen watch film with the head coach in the back of the plane,” Haliburton said of his 20-year-old teammate. “He’ll watch all of his. I watch film with our video guys and stuff. He goes back there with Coach and watches his film after games, good or bad. And that just shows he’s hungry, wants to get after it. You don’t see guys in the NBA do that. We’re young guys and we both just want to be great. But you see the hunger that he has.” TIMBERWOLVES’ ALL-IN TRADE BACKFIRES BADLY The Minnesota Timberwolves pulled off one of the biggest moves in the off-season in trading a king’s ransom for three-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert. Although there were questions on how the 7-foot-1 big man’s frontcourt pairing with Karl-Anthony Towns would function, it was at least thought the twin towers would be a terror on the defensive end to make up for any offensive shortcomings. But the 5-6 Timberwolves are in a big slump, dropping five of their last six, and some of the stats are damning. Prior to Thursday’s games, Minnesota’s starting line-up had the worst offensive rating in the NBA by a significant margin at 95.1 (minimum 100 minutes), per Basketball Forever. For context, the next worst in the NBA was the New York Knicks’ starters at 107.7. At the other end of the floor, they’ve simply been a middle of the road – ranked 14th in the NBA in defensive rating. Then looking at Gobert’s former team, the 9-3 Utah Jazz, no one could’ve predicted the trade would backfire this badly. The Jazz have shocked in the NBA world – sitting first in the Western Conference despite being one of many rebuilding teams tanking for likely Pick 1 Victor Wembanyama – yet have nearly twice as many wins as a Timberwolves team that went all in to push towards title contention. Utah also owns the Timberwolves’ 2023, 2025, 2026 (via a swap), 2026 and 2029 first round picks following the seismic trade … yikes. Not to mention Pick 22 draftee Walker Kessler, who also joined the Jazz in the trade, has shown promising signs, including a 12-point, six-rebound, three-block performance in 16 minutes against Atlanta. It’s still only early days in the season, but the two sides are performing much closer to how the other was expected to in a remarkable turn of events. The Wolves would desperately want their fortunes to turn around – both for the now and the future. Green’s super slick moves torches Nets | 01:13 ‘NOBODY THOUGHT THAT’D BE THE CASE’: WHAT’S DOING IN UTAH? This was not how things were supposed to be going in Utah. When the Jazz tumbled out of the playoffs in humiliating fashion last season, a full-scale rebuild look to be on the cards — and a few significant trades seemed to all-but confirm it. The two cornerstones of the franchise, Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell, were both shipped off while Royce O’Neale and Bojan Bogdanovic were also traded away. Then you add in the fact a once-in-the-generation prospect like Victor Wembanyama was up for grabs. Put simply, there was added incentive for the Jazz to give it all away. But nobody expected the Jazz to be sitting in first place in the Western Conference after 13 games with a 10-3 record. Not only that, they hold the best defensive record in the league when it comes to points conceded per game along with the 10th best defensive efficiency. “They traded away arguably the best defender in the NBA in the last decade and they traded away their best perimeter defender in Royce O’Neale and they changed coaches and completely changed half their roster,” ESPN insider Brian Windhorst said on ‘NBA Today’. “Guess what’s happened to their defence? It’s been the exact same. They were a top-10 defence last year, they are a top-10 defence this year. I’m telling you, nobody thought that would be the case. You’ve got to take your hat off to the way they’ve approached this season and Will Hardy for getting them into those habits. “They have been tremendous defensively and then offensively, Lauri Markkanen has never played better, Jordan Clarkson has never played better, Mike Conley in my opinion has never played better. They pass the ball beautifully… they are for real.” But are they? A few anonymous front office executives speaking to The Athleticdid not rule out Utah still moving to trade players like Conley and Clarkson, if the price is right. “I think Danny won’t break it all the way down,” one said. “I could see him keeping a guy like Markkanen, and (there’s a sense) that he doesn’t have the stomach for a true rebuild. That might be one team that doesn’t make moves to go that direction because Danny doesn’t believe in it.” “Utah has generally been open for business,” another added. “I do think they’re the one that could accelerate taking it apart faster. But you’ve got to have the buyers in the market. And outside of the Lakers, who is that?” Regardless of what Utah’s roster looks like, the franchise looks to have found an answer at coach in Will Hardy, who is the surging favourite for Coach of the Year. “He has shown himself very quickly to be one of the brightest young minds in the league,” said NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski.
