A week of speculation has come to an end as Russell Westbrook has been traded from the Oklahoma City Thunder to the Houston Rockets, not the Miami Heat.
Following the stunning trade of Paul George to the Los Angeles Clippers, the next domino has fallen for the Oklahoma City Thunder as Russell Westbrook has been traded to the Houston Rockets, not the Miami Heat. The Thunder did not view Westbrook’s contract as a negative value, and the Rockets paid a price the Heat were not willing to match.
The Thunder received in return Chris Paul (perhaps the owner of the only contract in the NBA which is clearly worse than Westbrook’s own) and a package of multiple draft picks and the right to swap picks with the Rockets in multiple years.
In comparison, the Thunder were requesting two of Bam Adebayo, Justise Winslow and rookie Tyler Herro from the Miami Heat, and team president Pat Riley wasn’t interested in paying such a high price for Westbrook, who is due $171 million over the next four seasons.
The Heat will stand pat in this scenario, but they’ve already upgraded significantly while adding a veteran star by acquiring Jimmy Butler, and they keep the books clean for the next couple seasons. Riley and company were clearly uninterested in getting older, killing their depth and flexibility while depleting their own stock of assets.
As for the Houston Rockets, they are likely to be among the best teams in the NBA in a wide-open championship battle now that the Golden State Warriors have taken what looks to be a step back having lost Kevin Durant and without Klay Thompson until at least late in the 2019-20 season.
If there was ever a time to go for it and throw caution to the wind if they thought they had an opportunity to improve and fight for a championship, it’s easy to see why they would pursue this avenue.