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The Russell Westbrook experiment in Hollywood has not worked out for the LA Lakers. He is having the worst season of his career, and NBA rumors suggest that the Lakers are not interested in using the stretch provision on the former MVP. The Lakers are in danger of missing the playoffs and wasting a remarkable season of LeBron James.
Westbrook has a player option worth $47 million next season, and he's expected to opt in the offseason. If the Lakers use the stretch provision on Westbrook, he will have a cap hit of around $15.6 million for the next three seasons.
NBA Insider Jake Fischer told Marc Stein on SubStack that the Lakers have not explored the idea of using the stretch provision on Westbrook. Fischer added that the Lakers don't want dead money in their salary cap as they head to an uncertain future.
"We've definitely been talking about the wave and stretch idea for a couple weeks now, said Fischer. "I will say after I wrote that I was kind of told that that’s very unlikely to happen. I mean, anything could change here. But I think I don't think the Lakers intend to carry dead money on future salary because of Russell Westbrook," he added.
The last time the Lakers used the stretch provision was on Luol Deng, who has a cap hit of $4.9 million till this season.
It will be tough to have dead salary on the books next season with the large contracts of LeBron James and Anthony Davis. It would be tough to add valuable pieces if the Lakers decide to rehaul their roster once again.