The Oklahoma City Thunder are officially in rebuild mode as they have moved the cornerstone of their franchise for the past 11 seasons. The Thunder have traded guard Russell Westbrook to the Houston Rockets in exchange for guard Chris Paul and a couple of draft picks. This comes in the wake of the Thunder losing Paul George in a surprise trade to the Los Angeles Clippers, to play alongside Kawhi Leonard. It truly has been the end of an era for OKC but the beginning of a new one.
The way Westbrook’s career ended in OKC, sort of described what he has witnessed throughout his tenure. Many people have pointed out the stars that have left the team and flourished, such as James Harden, Kevin Durant, Serge Ibaka, and most recently, Paul George. When George left, it was quite the surprise, especially since he signed a new 4 year deal with the team last season. But when he was traded to the Clippers, it left Westbrook without another superstar to lean on and put the Thunder in the mindset that it was time to start from scratch.
The big move, of course, would be to trade Westbrook and see what can be obtained by moving him and the remining $117 million on his contract. Miami and Detroit became 2 early front runners, but Houston started creeping in with rumors of a possible 3 team deal. Thursday, that rumor turned into the Rockets sending a 2024 and 2026 protected first round pick, 2025 swap 1-20 protected first round pick, 2021 1-4 protected swap pick, in which OKC can swap the Clippers or Heat pick.
As for Paul, this was not something that was complete shock to the fan base. After the Rockets lost to the Golden State Warriors in 6 games in the Western Conference semifinals, a lot of trade talk started flooding. CP3 was considered the favorite to be moved but his large contract proved to be an obstacle. Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey even went as far to declare that Paul would not be traded. But that was before a playoff contender lost their MVP-caliber star in the middle of the night and now must have a fire sale of salary and remaining players.
This is a trade that should work out for the benefits of both teams right now, but the timetable for the return on these investments work a little bit differently. Oklahoma City is taking on the huge contract of Paul, but also stacking a ton of first round picks. These can be used as collateral for picking up other stars through trades or they can be used to bump themselves a few spots in future drafts. As for the Rockets, they are not in the rebuilding mindset at all. This is a team that went to the Conference Finals a couple of seasons ago with pretty much their current roster. Bringing in Westbrook gives them a little more explosion and athleticism at the point guard position as well as makes them compete with the newly assembled teams in the West. Westbrook and Harden are reunited for the first time 2012 in OKC, so basketball fans in general will be anxious to see how this duo will play out in 2019. Just when you thought the NBA was done with free agency at the moment, but things keep taking a turn for the exciting. Sending one of the more explosive players to Houston, so he can pair up with one of the league’s best scorers is going to keep a lot of people glued as they see if the Rockets can keep up with the Lakers, Clippers and other contenders in the West.