Jarred Vanderbilt traded to Lakers as part of Russell Westbrook deal

The Lakers have added another former ‘Cat to the roster.

On Wednesday night, ahead of Thursday afternoon’s trade deadline, the Los Angeles Lakers reportedly agreed to a three-team deal that will bring in Jarred Vanderbilt, who spent one year at Kentucky from 2017-18, to the NBA’s most popular franchise. Vanderbilt appeared in 52 games for the Utah Jazz this season before being traded to the Lakers where he’ll now link up with Wenyen Gabriel (who was teammates with Vanderbilt at UK) and Anthony Davis.

Now in his fifth NBA season and first with the Jazz, Vanderbilt started 41 games for Utah where he averaged 8.3 points, 7.9 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 1.0 steals per game while shooting 55.6 percent from the field. He specializes as a top-tier defender and rebounder with underrated playmaking skills.

ESPN Sources: The Lakers are finalizing deal to land Minnesota’s D’Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt in trade including Mike Conley and picks to Timberwolves and Russell Westbrook and a lightly protected 2027 LA first-round pick to Jazz.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 9, 2023

This will be the fourth NBA team for Vanderbilt, 23, who was drafted by the Denver Nuggets with the 41st overall pick back in 2018. The versatile 6-foot-9 forward was later shipped to the Minnesota Timberwolves during the 2019-20 season before having a breakout campaign in 2020-21.

Vanderbilt became a regular starter with the Timberwolves the following season alongside Karl-Anthony Towns in the frontcourt, but was eventually traded to Utah this past offseason as part of the massive deal that sent three-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert to Minnesota.

During his lone season at Kentucky, Vanderbilt played in just 14 games as he battled through injury but averaged 5.9 points and 7.9 rebounds per outing when he did make it out on the court.

Below are the full details of the trade, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The NBA trade deadline is Thursday at 3:00 p.m. EST.

Los Angeles Lakers receive: D’Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley, and Jarred Vanderbilt.

Utah Jazz receive: Russell Westbrook, Juan Toscano-Anderson, Damian Jones, and a lightly protected (1-4) 2027 Lakers first-round pick.

Minnesota Timberwolves receive: Mike Conley, Nickeil Alexander-Walker (cousin of one-time Wildcat Shai Gilgeous-Alexander), the 2024 lesser of Washington-Memphis’ second-round pick, and 2025 and 2026 second-round picks via Utah.