Not everything is gold, Russell Westbrook and other Lakers historic worst signings

After one year and a half, the Russell Westbrook saga with the LA Lakers was over, but the front office's mistake felt much longer as the fans suffered with their team failing to make it into the playoffs in the 2021-22 season and the 2022-23 looking like a repeat of it until the trade deadline happened.

With Westbrook, the Lakers actively made a championship-caliber roster worse and guaranteed the team would not win a title, that's why the Russ signing is one of the worst gambles the team has made in recent years but hasn't been the only one that has gone horrible wrong for the franchise.

It took six years for the Lakers to get rid of the worst contract in franchise history. Luol Deng was officially on the Lakers’ books all the way to the start of the 2022 offseason when the team was finally able to wipe it clean.

The Lakers in the summer of 2016 got not one but two horrendous contracts with Luol Deng and with Timofey Mozgov. Instead of being able to sign a superstar, the Lakers had to settle for overpaying two role players. At least with Deng he had the pedigree and was a former all-star. Signing Timofey Mozgov, who was nothing more than a role player, made absolutely no sense.

The Lakers should have never gambled on Kwame Brown

The period between trading Shaquille O’Neal and trading for Pau Gasol was pretty lackluster for the Los Angeles Lakers. Kobe Bryant was in his prime as he was doing things that nobody in the history of the sport has done but the supporting cast around him simply was not good enough. To make things worse, the Lakers front office added Kwame Brown. Brown was mediocre in his two-and-a-half season in LA and his relationship with Kobe wasn't good. The good that Brown had for the Lakers is that the player was included in the trade that brought Pau Gasol to LA and the rest is history.