The Los Angeles Lakers made a few offseason moves with the hopes of increasing their chances of contending next season. Despite the expectation by the fanbase for another blockbuster move to complement Luka Doncic, the front office largely stood pat and added Deandre Ayton, Marcus Smart, and Jake LaRavia instead.
This means that the Lakers are starting the 2025-26 season with their currently constructed roster. The rest of the league, however, is still trying to make moves to finalize their rotation. In fact, one Pacific Division rival is on the verge of making a head-scratching move regarding two former Lakers.
The Sacramento Kings are reportedly ‘trying very hard’ to trade Malik Monk to open up a roster spot for Russell Westbrook, per @GrantAfseth
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) August 21, 2025
“The Sacramento Kings have been ‘trying very hard’ to trade Malik Monk this offseason, but they haven’t found a taker, an NBA source told… pic.twitter.com/9xakaY4YQ2
Kings Trying to Move on from Malik Monk to Sign Russell Westbrook
According to NBA reporter Grant Afseth, the Sacramento Kings are trying "very hard" to trade Malik Monk to open up a roster spot to sign Russell Westbrook. The two players previously played together for the Lakers in the 2021-22 season, but their careers followed completely different trajectories since. Monk turned himself into one of the best sixth men in the league with the Sacramento Kings, while Westbrook has shown signs of age-related decline and wearing out his welcome with the Los Angeles Clippers and the Denver Nuggets.
Yet, the Kings are reportedly desperate to get rid of Monk and his reasonable $18.7 million salary for next season. In addition to being the better player right now, Monk is also a better fit for the Kings. Sacramento already signed another former Lakers guard, Dennis Schröder, this summer, and has non-shooters like DeMar DeRozan and Domantas Sabonis around him.
Getting rid of a shooter like Monk to add another ball-dominant, non-shooting perimeter player like Westbrook into that mix makes very little sense.
Lakers fans, however, should celebrate the dysfunction and mismanagement by one of their rivals within the division. The Western Conference is loaded with talent as it is, so having a team like the Kings that continuously shoots itself in the foot at least takes one opponent out of the playoff race for the Lakers.