Winners and Losers from Lakers' 3-Team Russell Westbrook-D'Angelo Russell Trade

Impatience is apparently a virtue for a handful of NBA teams. Sunday, the Dallas Mavericks and Brooklyn Nets agreed on a Kyrie Irving trade. Wednesday, still a day shy of the trade deadline, the Los Angeles Lakers, Utah Jazz and Minnesota Timberwolves followed suit with a deal that unloads Russell Westbrook and his expiring contract.

The full details of the trade are as follows:

Lakers receive: D'Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt

Jazz receive: Russell Westbrook, Juan Toscano-Anderson, Damian Jones and a top-four-protected 2027 first-round pick from the Lakers

Timberwolves receive: Mike Conley, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and three second-round picks

The obvious winner here is L.A., but it's not the only one. Those who are joining the Lakers on that side of the ledger, as well as a few on the other, can be found below.

Winners: The Lakers

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D'Angelo Russell

There's no doubt that the Lakers got significantly better on Wednesday.

Westbrook has had a pretty solid campaign as a reserve. He deserves credit for buying into that role in a way many figured he couldn't. But the fit with him, LeBron James and Anthony Davis has been awful from the jump—as most predicted.

On that front alone, L.A. improved.

D-Lo isn't the most consistent outside shooter in the league, but since the start of 2020-21, he's averaged 2.8 made threes with a 36.8 conversion rate. Both of those numbers would be single-season career highs for Westbrook, and he's nowhere near those marks in 2022-23.

Having a point guard who commands respect at the three-point line always should've been a priority for L.A.'s front office, and this deal suggests it finally is.

And of course, D-Lo isn't the only player headed to the Lakers who'll help. They would've been winners with a straight swap of Russell for Westbrook, but they're also getting Beasley (14.1 points, 3.1 threes and a 37.6 three-point percentage over the last three seasons) and Vanderbilt, who can defend multiple positions and always rebounds with relentless energy.

This season, those three have combined for 6.9 estimated wins (the cumulative variant of Dunks and Threes' highly trusted all-in-one metric). Westbrook, Toscano-Anderson and Jones have combined for 2.2.

The Lakers just replaced one ill-fitting rotation player with three who can help right now.

Loser: Russell Westbrook

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Russell Westbrook

We aren't privy to everything that's happened behind the scenes, but Westbrook certainly appeared to willingly accept his bench role with the Lakers.

And even with all his shortcomings as a defender and shooter, his playmaking has been a real weapon off the bench.

It's not his fault (at least not entirely) that he's been such a bad fit next to LeBron and AD. Sure, there has to be some personal responsibility for his game, but L.A.'s front office should've known it was acquiring someone who'd been in the league and dominated the ball since 2008.

Expecting him to be the kind of combo guard that LeBron had thrived with at previous stops was absurd.

And after two years of showcasing in a role that was terrible for his game, he's barreling toward a buyout.

This is exactly the kind of value-diminishing move that Westbrook's former agent, Thad Foucher, expressed concern over when the two parted ways before the season started.

Westbrook is probably already a journeyman—he's played for four teams in the last five seasons—but a buyout sort of puts you in a different category of player.

Less than six years after winning his MVP, Westbrook may now be in that category.

Winner: Rudy Gobert

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Rudy Gobert

Speaking of bad fits, Rudy Gobert just hasn't really worked with the Timberwolves—at least not to the degree Minnesota must've expected with the price it paid to get him.

Over his last four seasons with the Jazz, Gobert averaged 15.2 points, 13.6 rebounds and 2.3 blocks while shooting 68.5 percent from the field and posting a plus-10.1 net rating swing (the difference between a team's net points per 100 possessions when a given player is on or off the floor).

In 2022-23, his first season with the Wolves, he's at 13.2 points, 11.4 rebounds and 1.3 blocks, with a 67.6 field-goal percentage. And what's most alarming is that at minus-1.0, he's on track for the first negative net rating swing of his career.

This deal signifies that the team isn't ready to cut bait on him, though. The Wolves just traded a soon-to-be-27-year-old point guard for a 35-year-old. And while Conley's experience and leadership should help the entire roster, this feels like a deal specifically struck to help Gobert.

Conley was Gobert's teammate for three seasons prior to this one. In 2021-22, when those two were on the floor without Donovan Mitchell, the Jazz were plus-14.2 points per 100 possessions. And in the same campaign, Conley threw 100 assists to the big man, more than twice as many as the next-highest teammate.

There is real chemistry between those two, and Conley has played enough off the ball since going to Utah to know how to coexist with Anthony Edwards, too.

Losers: The Jazz

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Walker Kessler and Danny Ainge

The Jazz have drastically outperformed expectations to this point of the season. Following the Gobert and Mitchell trades this summer, they were supposed to be at or near the bottom of the West.

Instead, thanks in part to contributions from veterans like Conley, Beasley and Vanderbilt, Utah has been in the playoff mix all season.

That's fun, but it might also be counterproductive. This team isn't going to contend for much more than a postseason berth, and every win decreases the likelihood of landing the top pick in the draft.

The Jazz's unique circumstance made moving all three of these players feel inevitable. And getting a first-round pick from a team whose best player is 38 years old is pretty good value.

The question is, what would've happened if they'd waited till deadline day's final buzzer?

They may not have been getting the offers they wanted for each of the vets heading out right now, but could three separate trades have yielded more on Thursday?

Organizations can get desperate as the final minutes to make a deal approach. And there has been plenty of individual buzz around each of Conley, Beasley and Vanderbilt.

Seeing all of them go for this is a bit jarring.

Heck, just taking on Westbrook alone should probably have been worth the 2027 first. Giving up two useful players didn't get any more draft picks?

Ainge obviously knocked the Gobert and Mitchell deals out of the park. Everything since has been underwhelming, at best, though there's still some time before the deadline.

Winners (kinda): Jarred Vanderbilt and Malik Beasley

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Jarred Vanderbilt and Malik Beasley

This one could go either way.

The Lakers are perhaps the most storied franchise in basketball history. LeBron is one of the two best players of all time. The opportunity to play for L.A. and alongside the league's all-time leading scorer has to be intriguing.

But Beasley and Vanderbilt are also going to a team that's behind the Jazz they've played for all season in the standings. And playing for an unexpectedly plucky rebuilding team probably helped those two play loose. That, in turn, could've contributed to them playing well.

With the Lakers, even though they're five games below .500, there will be significantly more pressure. It's almost always title-or-bust for L.A., and that's especially true with LeBron nearing his 40s.