Westbrook to Houston for Paul

NBA
Report: Russell Westbrook Traded to Rockets from Thunder for Chris Paul, Picks
JOSEPH ZUCKER
JULY 11, 2019


The Oklahoma City Thunder traded eight-time All-Star Russell Westbrook to the Houston Rockets on Thursday, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.

The Thunder are receiving Chris Paul, first-round picks in 2024 and 2026 and the right to swap first-rounders in 2021 and 2025.

Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium broke down the protections on those picks:


Shams Charania

@ShamsCharania
Sources: Pick protections in Thunder/Rockets, Russell Westbrook/Chris Paul trade:
2024 first round pick, protected 1-4
2026 first round pick, protected 1-4
2025 swap, 1-20 protected
2021 swap, protected 1-4 -- OKC can swap Clippers pick or Heat pick.
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Wojnarowski added Westbrook and his agent worked in tandem with Thunder general manager Sam Presti to get him to Houston.

The move comes after Paul George's unexpected trade to the Los Angeles Clippers in July.


Adrian Wojnarowski

@wojespn
Thunder are playing a long-game unseen in recent NBA history: Seven additional first-round picks lined up through 2026 -- plus four pick swaps -- via deals for Paul George and Chris Paul.
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Kawhi Leonard signing with the Clippers was a little surprising, but they were still one of the three remaining finalists to land him this offseason. Nobody thought George would join him in Los Angeles.

Losing George significantly lowered the Thunder's playoff ceiling, which was already a question coming off back-to-back first-round exits since the George trade. Trading Westbrook and embracing a full-scale rebuild was naturally one option Oklahoma City had to seriously consider.

Wojnarowski reported July 6 the Thunder were in contact with Westbrook's representatives about possibly moving him elsewhere: "The two sides have 11 years of history together, and both understand that the time has likely come to explore trade possibilities for Westbrook, league sources said."


From a sentimental standpoint, this will be a clear blow for fans in Oklahoma City.

With Westbrook, Kevin Durant and James Harden leading the way, the Thunder reached the 2012 NBA Finals, losing to the Miami Heat in five games. The franchise looked to be on the verge of building a dynasty.

All three players are now gone and OKC never advanced past the Western Conference Finals since the 2011-12 season. That was probably going to remain the case if Westbrook had stayed and played out the duration of his career with the Thunder, but this definitively ends an era for the team.

Looking at the situation pragmatically, the upside of losing George is it allowed the Thunder and Westbrook to reach a mutually beneficial decision about their respective futures.

Westbrook is owed $171.1 million over the next four seasons and will make $47.1 million alone in 2022-23, assuming he opts in to the final year of his contract.

That deal made it hard enough to assemble a title contender around Westbrook and George. The Thunder were then still in the luxury tax even after taking George out of the mix.


Nate Duncan

@NateDuncanNBA
With OKC looking at $40m in luxury tax payments even after PG trade, you'd have to imagine any Russ trade or related moves would have a goal of cutting salary.  Dallas and Atlanta are the only remaining teams with space, look for them to be involved in some fashion.
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Now, Presti has a clean slate to start over.


Fred Katz

@FredKatz
If there is one GM I’d trust most to rebuild with seven along with whatever the Thunder could get in a hypothetical Russell Westbrook deal, it’s probably Sam Presti.
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Westbrook presumably has a better shot at winning a championship as well. At the very least, he should be able to get out of the first round with the Rockets.

To call this a win-now move for Houston is stating the obvious, but Westbrook's age, contract and performance bring additional layers of urgency.

His incredible athleticism is one reason he can put up triple-doubles on a nightly basis. As he continues to get older, it's fair to wonder how much longer he can keep that up.

At 6'3" and 200 pounds, Westbrook isn't built like LeBron James. Along with that, he doesn't appear capable of adapting his game to cater to an inevitable physical decline.

Westbrook shot 29 percent from three-point range in 2018-19, the fourth time in five years he connected on fewer than 30 percent of his three-pointers. NBA.com's player-tracking data paints an even worse picture. He hit 32.2 percent of his catch-and-shoots and 31.4 percent of his pull-up jumpers.

That aforementioned urgency stems from the fact the version of Westbrook the Rockets are getting now simply may not be the same player in two or three years. He isn't going to age gracefully if he remains unable to improve as a shooter.

Houston might only have a small window to maximize Westbrook's on-court value before his production and contract combine to become serious issues.

Head coach Mike D'Antoni successfully balanced Paul and James Harden for the most part, and now he'll need to do the same with Westbrook and Harden.

The Rockets were met with some level of skepticism when they acquired Paul to join Harden. Both players had grown accustomed to being their team's primary playmaker, and Paul's more methodical style was antithetical to Houston's uptempo offense.

The pairing worked out initially as the Rockets were a game away from the 2018 NBA Finals. But then they lost to the Golden State Warriors in six games in the second round this past season, followed by rumors of friction between Paul and Harden.

Swapping Paul for Westbrook might leave the Rockets better off, and they acquired Westbrook without giving up Clint Capela, Eric Gordon or PJ Tucker. Losing one or more of those three would've further depleted a roster already lacking in depth.

Well, this certainly resolved Houston's problem of having two starting back court players who both need the ball in their hands to be happy.

Time to wake up and smell the sarcasm.


bob


.

I think this will be a good trade for Houston. I think Westbrook will concentrate on assists more this year and if he doesn't shoot his team out of a game he is really effective. OKC had a really good record on games where he shot like 14 or 15 times a game. He is 4 years younger as well. Everyone is getting 2 superstars now days. I was surprised no one was talking about Houston this year anyway with what they have done the last couple of years. They were still in the top 4 in the west before the trade.

bobheckler wrote:Well, this certainly resolved Houston's problem of having two starting back court players who both need the ball in their hands to be happy.

Time to wake up and smell the sarcasm.


bob

.

At least Chris Paul can actually shoot. What the hell will Westbrook do without the ball in his hands???

Well now Paul gets a chance to sulk in OKC.

dboss wrote:Well now Paul gets a chance to sulk in OKC.

Maybe a team (Miami) trades for him

KyleCleric wrote:

dboss wrote:Well now Paul gets a chance to sulk in OKC.

Maybe a team (Miami) trades for him

that the rumors I read, that okl will now work with Miami to get him there.

I think something like Dragic (expiring deal) and Winslow for Paul works.

Has to be more to this or it does not make sense for OKC at all. Or I guess they are pretty much same position/contract cost and length and added some picks and swaps. So it is still a win for them and will be easier to develop new talent around CP3 than Westbrook. Optimally they flip CP3 into something with Miami and get out of under the contract, add some picks and potentially some talent.

If they manage to get expiring contracts + picks out of miami too then they did a great job.

Interesting new pairing all over the place. First time I seen one player force the trade of another player.

Okc to RW, pick your team

RW..What about Houston..you can have Chris Paul...

OKC...done and now let's call the Heat

Russell and Harden didnt get along last time - this should be fun.

Everything I have heard is they are very good friends. Harden may have felt he wasn't getting as much pub as Durant and RW but I don't think they had personal problems. Of course you never know now with both of them being the Alpha dogs of their teams for a while. Someone will have to take a back seat and RW better realize it is him. If he rebounds and gets double digit assists, lets Harden do his thing, and Russell only take good shots this could be a very good tandem.