Rockets getting Westbrook for Paul

Report: Thunder deal Russell Westbrook to Rockets for Chris Paul, picks

The Oklahoma City Thunder have agreed to trade Russell Westbrook to the Houston Rockets for a package that includes Chris Paul and draft picks, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports.

According to the report, Westbrook wanted to play with his former Thunder teammate James Harden, and OKC general manager Sam Presti worked with Westbrook to make the deal happen.

This offseason has been crazy, one of the wildest in a long time.

what was the wildest one before this? this is the craziest I've ever seen. almost whole NBA moved in 2 weeks. but I'm staying tuned for 2021, where literally everybody is a free agent.

1996 was pretty memorable. Shaq went to the Lakers, Mutombo went to the Hawks, the Knicks signed Allan Houston and traded for Larry Johnson, the Rockets traded for Charles Barkley, and Kenny Anderson went to the Trail Blazers, to mention some of the bigger names. 1998 (well, early 1999 thanks to the lockout) also felt as though a lot of players were moving around in an abbreviated offseason. Maybe it stands out more in my mind because the champion Bulls were broken up, but it seemed a lot of lineups around the league were changing after a few years of consistency.

This year has to rank up there, if it isn't the craziest of all-time. It's going to be interesting to see how all the new duos play together. A Westbrook and Harden reunion seems like an awesome idea in a video game, but I don't know how well it'll work out in reality. Both players are going to have to make some concessions.

It's the end of an era for Oklahoma City. Westbrook was the one constant over the last 11 years for the Thunder and it's going to be weird watching games and not seeing him there.

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The trade itself doesn't seem that great, but I guess Westbrook told Presti that he only wanted to go to the Rockets and this is the best they could get. One less year of salary and a couple of late first round picks is okay for Westbrook's supposedly "unmovable contract".

I don't like Chris Paul very much at all, so I hope Presti sends him somewhere for some expiring contracts asap.



One positive that hasn't been mentioned much about the George and Westbrook trades is that the Thunder will now become worse and thus likely regain two of their own first round picks.

https://twitter.com/BobbyMarks42/status ... 5997350915

Need to factor in that with the recent trades, OKC will likely retain the 2020 first (top 20 protected to Philly) and 2022 first (top 14 protected to Atlanta).

From 2020 to 2026: 15 first-round picks and the swap rights in 4 years.

So their own picks for the next few years are now much more valuable and they added 8 new first round picks.

They could theoretically package up some picks to trade for a young star player and still have a first rounder to use each year. It's good flexibility to have.

As far as their position to rebuild, all those picks are definitely going to help. Apparently there's talk that CP3 could be moving on to Miami.

As far as their position to rebuild, all those picks are definitely going to help. Apparently there's talk that CP3 could be moving on to Miami.

It would ironic if he did. Over the last few days I've seen a lot of Heat fans who were expecting to get Westbrook cheaply. So for them to end up with Chris Paul instead would be quite funny.

I'm surprised there aren't rumours of him accepting a buyout to join LeBron on the Lakers. He would be leaving an awful lot of money on the table though, so that does seem unlikely.

Still waiting on Melo to the Lakers.

Westbrook's contract is for an insane amount of money, so there are few players that you could swap for him and have the salaries match up.

Don't know if CP3 will stay or get a buyout but Miami or LA seem like the most likely destinations

As a Sonics fan, it makes me happy to see this team go straight to the garbage bin, which is what they deserve!

As a Sonics fan, it makes me happy to see this team go straight to the garbage bin, which is what they deserve!

Do the players and coaches really deserve it?

OKC as a franchise deserve it anyway for blowing a 3-1 lead in 2016.

OKC is raping everyone with their overpaid not so superstar players. The Clippers obviously got robbed but it makes it little easier to swallow if you take it as Kawhi-George trade instead of just George alone.

The Rockets are back pedalling with this trade. I guess they figured aging CP3 is worse than inefficient Westy, even then we all know they are gonna be ugly this season. The Rockets held second best team status in west for awhile now and regularly made to the WCF despite people complaining about their shit brand of ball. The problem is that Westbrook's shit brand of basketball is gonna be much worse.

With the break up of the Warriors super team they had a real shot but the Lakers and Clippers emergence put the Rockets even farther down the standings.

regularly made to the WCF despite people complaining about their shit brand of ball.

Well, twice in seven years and once in the two years that CP3 and Harden were together. That's not to say Westbrook and Harden will necessarily fare any better, but they were already hitting a wall.

They had a golden opportunity in 2018 and let it slip when they kept bricking threes. A quarter away from making it to the Finals.

Seems like Morey is grasping at straws with this move. This will be a disaster of epic proportions. Both these cats led the league in usage, so who gets the ball at winnin' time? Can D'Antoni reign Westbrook in (nope, lol).

Only way I see this working is Harden playing more off-ball....good luck with that.

Should be fascinating to watch, though.

Westbrook's 3point shooting will now improve under the Rockets.