The wording is weird. This says somebody else thinks the Rockets will go after Westbrook. It’s an opinion of someone else. I wouldn’t be surprised if these were intentional leaks in hopes of keeping tension and turmoil amongst the players and front office.
Lol, just when most of the players were feeling relieved that the Butler trade failed , just when Gordon said that this off-season is fun, then this bomb happens. Everyone on the trading block again!
Now, hear me out before chewing me up on my thoughts. I don’t oppose getting WB. If we continue to play iso ball, that actually helps Harden late in games in terms of preserving his energy when the game is on the line. They can both take turn doing their things. The only downside is if we have to give up our shooters to get him, then it would not make sense.
Not really a BOMB. More like a sparkler that hasn't been lit. Just speculation that the Rockets might be interested. Of course the Rockets are almost always rumored to be interested in everyone, so this isn't surprising at all. This would still require some other team taking on Paul's stinky contract. Which would require us to include substantial attractive assets. Seems unlikely.
On ESPN Radio on Saturday, Brian Windhorst mentioned the Houston Rockets and Miami Heat as possible Westbrook destinations. The Rockets might see a Westbrook trade as an opportunity to get out of their own massive contract for an aging point guard, Chris Paul — he also began a 35% max contract in 2018-19 and will make an identical amount to Westbrook over the next three years but has one fewer season remaining on his deal. Westbrook was the more valuable player in 2018-19, something that is unlikely to change given Paul is nearly four years older and has had more difficulty staying on the court. https://www.espn.com/nba/insider/story/_/id/27133677/which-teams-pull-russell-westbrook-trade Which teams can pull off a Russell Westbrook trade? What would Russell Westbrook's trade value be and where might he fit best? With ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski and Royce Young reporting that Westbrook's camp and the Oklahoma City Thunder are engaged to ponder their future after Paul George was dealt to the LA Clippers early Saturday morning, it's time to consider the possibility of a Westbrook trade. That's true even if only a few teams would have the ability to take on Westbrook's $38.5 million salary and the willingness to offer value in return. So how might a Westbrook trade work out? Let's take a look. Westbrook's value Westbrook is in the second season of a five-year supermax extension that began in 2019-20 and will pay him a total of $171 million over the next four seasons. He has a 15% trade bonus as well, but because the 8% raise between the first and second years of Westbrook's contract was larger than the increase in the NBA salary cap (7.1% growth), he's already making more than the 2019-20 maximum salary and therefore would not be eligible to receive the bonus. Barring an unexpected jump in the salary cap, Westbrook will remain among the league's handful of highest-paid players through the life of his contract. Only Stephen Curry ($40.2 million) is set to make more this year and in 2020-21 before James Harden and John Wall surpass Westbrook in 2021-22 because their own supermax extensions, which begin this season, feature slightly larger year-to-year raises. As Westbrook's salary continues to increase, his production on the court is in decline. Despite Westbrook increasingly taking a back seat to George in the Thunder's offense the past two seasons, his efficiency has also dropped both years since his MVP campaign in 2016-17. With Westbrook slumping badly at the free throw line (the career 80% foul shooter hit just 65.6% of his attempts), last season's 50.1 true shooting percentage was Westbrook's worst since 2009-10, when he was age 21. Since Westbrook isn't a spot-up threat -- he shot just 32% on catch-and-shoot 3s last season, according to Second Spectrum tracking data on NBA Advanced Stats, and shot about 34% the previous three years -- shifting him to a lower-usage role off the ball as he ages might not be a good option. At the same time, Westbrook's demise has probably been exaggerated. Based on a combination of results from my SCHOENE projection systems using how similar players have aged and multiyear projections of ESPN's real plus-minus (RPM), I estimate Westbrook will produce 14.8 wins above replacement (WAR) in 2019-20, sixth-most in the NBA. His three-year outlook of 36.2 WAR ranks eighth over that span. Those lofty projections are driven in part by Westbrook's durability. The 11,000-plus minutes he has played over the past four years also rank sixth in the league, according to Basketball-Reference.com data. The mileage Westbrook has accumulated could become an issue. His left knee figures to be a particular source of concern to interested suitors. Westbrook suffered a torn meniscus in the knee during the 2013 playoffs, and a series of surgeries ultimately cost him much of the 2013-14 campaign. The knee hadn't kept Westbrook off the court until he underwent another arthroscopy on it in September 2018, sidelining him through training camp and the first two games of the 2018-19 regular season. Ultimately, it will be difficult for Westbrook to live up to his salary over the next four seasons. It's unrealistic for a player who will turn 34 during the final year of the contract to remain among the top handful of stars in the league, particularly given Westbrook's dependence on otherworldly athleticism for his style of play. Still, he should remain an All-Star-caliber player much of the deal so long as he avoids injuries. As a result, it's easy to see why teams looking for a path to contention would be interested in Westbrook. Possible Westbrook suitors After failing to land a star in free agency, the New Knicks loom as the most reasonable destination for Westbrook. The Knicks couldn't make such a deal until December 15, when they'll be able to trade the players they did sign as free agents to match salary. Because all those players save Julius Randle signed two-year deals with a team option for 2020-21, New York could offer the Thunder maximum financial flexibility, as well as young point guard Dennis Smith Jr. and possibly draft picks. More than perhaps any other team, the Knicks could justify giving up value for Westbrook because of the possibility he'll help them compete for top free agents again. One of the lessons of this offseason is it typically takes one star -- either committed via free agency or already on the roster -- to lure a second, and Westbrook would provide New York the star power and on-court competence the team has lacked in recent years. The Phoenix Suns are another team that could talk themselves into Westbrook helping them return to relevance. As with the Knicks, any Suns deal would likely have to wait until Dec. 15, when Phoenix could include Ricky Rubio as matching salary. A Rubio-Tyler Johnson package would save Oklahoma City approximately $24 million in 2020-21 but would leave the Thunder on the hook for Rubio's entire three-year contract, which might not make sense with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander already in place as the Thunder's point guard of the future following the George deal. On ESPN Radio on Saturday, Brian Windhorst mentioned the Houston Rockets and Miami Heat as possible Westbrook destinations. The Rockets might see a Westbrook trade as an opportunity to get out of their own massive contract for an aging point guard, Chris Paul -- he also began a 35% max contract in 2018-19 and will make an identical amount to Westbrook over the next three years but has one fewer season remaining on his deal. Westbrook was the more valuable player in 2018-19, something that is unlikely to change given Paul is nearly four years older and has had more difficulty staying on the court. As intriguing as a Paul-Westbrook swap would be -- it would bring Paul back where he started his career, as the New Orleans Hornets played in Oklahoma City his first two seasons in the NBA prior to the Thunder's move from Seattle -- I don't think it's realistic. I doubt the two sides could agree on the right compensation in terms of picks to square the value between Paul and Westbrook, and Oklahoma City probably wants more cap flexibility after a Westbrook move than taking on Paul's salary would provide. A trade with Miami would be complicated by the Heat's need to stay under a hard cap of $138.9 million after completing a sign-and-trade deal for Jimmy Butler. After waiving Ryan Anderson and stretching his $15.6 million guarantee for 2019-20, Miami has just $1.8 million in wiggle room, according to research by my ESPN colleague Bobby Marks. So any trade would need to be cap-neutral or subtract money from the Heat's payroll. That's bad news for the Thunder, who would presumably like to reduce their own tax bill on a Westbrook trade. Both sides could solve their financial issues by finding a third team to take back one of the players involved, most likely Miami point guard Goran Dragic. Beyond that, having dealt a protected 2023 first-round pick as part of the Butler deal, the Heat can't trade a first-rounder until 2025 at the earliest. So Oklahoma City would have to value one of Miami's young players, most likely Justise Winslow, to get any value out of a Westbrook trade with the Heat.
I think Miami makes the most sense. I’d love it if the Rockets could somehow snag Bam with the Knight trade exception and a FRP. Bam would be a perfect back up 5 and could potentially turn into a 4 down the line if his 3 pt shot got a lot better. Edit: forgot Miami was hard capped which would make things very difficult. Thanks for posting the BSPN story @J.R.
I think this is very possible if Westbrook WANTS to be here. The front office would probably do him a solid for remaining so loyal to them.
I don't know about the fit, because Westbrook doesn't like playing off ball either. But I'm not as down on him. He should shoot better with another year to recover from injury and we have way more shooters than OKC, so he can limit his shooting. He still creates a ton for teammates and pushes the pace
Publicity for MR. Patrick STARFISH FERTITA This is clearly that child’s wish. Look on Instagram at the children begging for him like it’s NBA2K
It just goes completely against Morey's analytics-based approach. Westbrook is startlingly inefficient, no? All of this is speculation, and the last two weeks of Kawhi should have taught us a few things about that.
