throw him out far from LaLa Land
That's the caveat when you get an LBJ onboard your team. It has to be on HIS timeline. He doesn't care about the future of the organization or its succession plan. He will demand that you surround him with the players that he can maximize in order to get a championship NOW and not SOON.
It worked when they swapped the entire farm for Anthony Davis. They got the Championship that very same year. Now he is pressuring them to get rid of Westbrook (which he approved to get at an enormous cost to the franchise) and swap him with players that he can work with. The problem there is that Westbrook's value is at an all time low. They need to attach 1 or even 2 first round picks just to offload him for a marginal player like Buddy Hield.
If the Lakers organization caves in to the pressure, They will be left with little to no options to rebuild from the draft from 2025 and beyond. By that time LBJ will be retired and AD might be on the tail end of his career.
So lets recap...the Westbrook 1 year rental already cost them:
Kyle Kuzma
Montrez Harrel
KCP
a first round pick (#22 in the 2021 draft)
To get rid of him...they might lose:
THT
First round pick 2026
First round pick 2028
As a fan...for me the best that they can do to position the organization for future success would be to:
Do not trade Westbrook. Waive him. Pay him to not play.
Let Lebron walk away after this season. Lets see if he can manage to convince another team to jettison their future for a 1 or 2 year window for a championship.
After those 2 are off the books next season...they can now start to retool around AD.