If the Lakers swap Westbrook for Kyrie and Joe Harris, they will win _____ games.

Not only would they improve by adding Kyrie, but the subtraction of Westbrook will have just as big of an impact. Key questions are:
1) Can Kyrie get through the season without off-court drama and remain healthy?
2) Can the Lakers fill out their hollow roster with quality vets?

The other facet of the trade is, vets should be much more interested in joining a Lakers team that has moved on from the Westbrook fiasco, and they could convince themselves that Kyrie makes them a legit contender.

All that being said, I think given how many games AD and Kyrie are likely to miss (LBJ also gets sidelined with a few injuries a year now), their range is anywhere from 33-52. I?d probably bet in the middle at 42-40.

Thoughts?

I think Kyrie is on his best behavior this season. I think it all blows up and perhaps makes that 2024/25 pick better, but with so many West teams taking a step back this year, they would win 45-48 and be a 5-7 seed

The wild card here is them having a rookie head coach, which I'm betting means Kyrie tries to railroad Ham like he did Nash. Unless LeBron stands firmly behind Ham, which he has not done for a coach since... Lue maybe(?) then I think the explosion comes much sooner than later. But that's also probably just me being optimistic.

35 wins. They will suck

Yeah, that ain’t happening with Darwin Ham. He isn’t going to bow down or step aside to anyone, Lebron included. In fact, I think it’s more likely the Lakers would just send Kyrie him if he started pulling that mess than Ham bowing down. My best friend worked with him in Atlanta and the stories he tells about Ham let’s me know he wouldn’t play that nonsense

No idea an exact number but I would think they're more likely to be a play-in team than a top 3 seed. So low 40s?

Ham is one intimidating dude, i wouldn't mess with someone like that. If healthy, i can see them in the playoffs with kyrie bron and AD as high as the 5th seed

I think it would come down to games played between the 3.

201-240: Top 4 seed
180-200: 4-7 range
160-179: Play in game
140-159: 9-11 seed
Less than 140: 11-13 seed