The Lakers looked like a team that might be on the verge of cracking Tuesday in their loss to Oklahoma City. Russell Westbrook got into an open argument with assistant Phil Handy, and then Darvin Ham at halftime. Anthony Davis was oddly detached from basically everything that was going on. It felt like if the Lakers made it through the deadline without trying to improve, things could go south really fast.

Well, Wednesday they tried to improve.

The Lakers reportedly will send Russell Westbrook and a lightly protected first round pick (along with Juan Toscano-Anderson and Damian Jones) to Utah, as part of a three-way trade netting them former Laker D'Angelo Russell from the Timberwolves, along with shooting guard Malik Beasley and forward Jarred Vanderbilt from Utah.

The trade should make the Lakers better right away, replacing one rotation player with three rotation quality guys, two of whom will add genuine three-point accuracy and volume to their offense. The latter is a big thing, because even on nights when they shoot a decent percentage, the Lakers still don't actually make very many three's. That can make things tough. Plus, the floor should be spaced better for LeBron James and Davis.

Meanwhile, Vanderbilt is a very good defensive player who is improving enough on the other end to be a net neutral, and should find low usage, high percentage opportunities moving off ball while surrounded by James, Davis, and other solid players.

Basically, the Lakers have, with these three players and the Rui Hachimura deal, reconstructed a viable middle class for their roster, something that has been painfully missing for the last couple of seasons, since they executed the Westbrook deal.

Can they get better fast enough to matter in a Western Conference undergoing an arms race? Remains to be seen. But the Lakers did very good work on Wednesday, acquiring three solid players for one first rounder and rid themselves of Westbrook at the same time.

HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky

SEGMENT 1: The Lakers make a big trade.

SEGMENT 2: What the new players do for the roster.

SEGMENT 3: Is it enough to get them into the top 10, or even higher?

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