The Houston Rockets and Washington Wizards have agreed to a blockbuster deal centered around Russell Westbrook and John Wall.
What We Know:
- The Wizards are sending Wall and a lottery-protected 2023 first-round draft pick to the Rockets for Westbrook. Both stars have expressed a desire to move on from their teams and rumors of this trade surfaced weeks ago.
- The draft pick involved in the trade is lottery-protected for the Wizards, meaning that the Wizards keep the pick in 2023 if it lands in the top 14. If the pick does not convey in 2023, it will move on to 2024, 2025, and 2026 with different protections. If the pick hasn’t conveyed for Houston by 2026, it will become two second-round picks for 2026 and 2027.
- Discussions of this specific Westbrook-Wall trade emerged in mid-November, but they stalled pretty quickly. That was until Wizards general manager Tommy Sheppard and Rockets general manager Rafael Stone connected on Tuesday afternoon. After hopping on a phone call, they had a deal worked out within hours, per sources.
- Many basketball fans and pundits view this as a lateral move for both teams because of the similarities between Wall and Westbrook. Both are point guards whose best days are behind them. Both have relied on athleticism for their success and are now over 30. Finally, both are making over $40 million per year for the next three seasons. Their undesirable contracts made both of them virtually untradeable, unless of course, it was for each other.
- For Westbrook, Washington might actually be a good fit for him. The Wizards have missed the playoffs for the last two seasons and his addition should catapult them back into contention for those middle playoff seeds in the Eastern Conference. He is also reuniting with his former coach Scott Brooks, who coached him in Oklahoma City for seven seasons. Westbrook also has a rising superstar of a teammate in Bradley Beal who averaged over 30 points per game last season and looks like he’s only getting better.
- For Wall, Houston will offer a change of scenery and an opportunity to prove that he’s still an elite point guard. Wall has spent his entire career in DC and is beloved by the community and fan base, but the last few years have been soured by injury. Wall’s last fully healthy season was 2016-2017 when he made the All-NBA Third Team and led the Wizards to within one game of the Eastern Conference Finals, including an epic Game 6 game-winner to avoid elimination.
- Since the 2017-2018 season, Wall has dealt with a knee injury, heel injury, an infection from surgery, and a ruptured Achilles tendon. He has suffered some of the worst injuries that a professional athlete can experience and he hasn’t played an NBA game since December 26, 2018. He’s missed two full years of basketball, so it’s reasonable to question how good he’s going to look coming off of several catastrophic injuries. With that being said, he won’t be expected to be the number one option while playing next to James Harden.
- This trade does have serious implications for the futures of James Harden and Bradley Beal, two of the most sought after trade pieces heading into this season. Beal can become a free agent after this season and leave the Wizards and James Harden has formally requested a trade to leave Houston.
For Houston and Washington, the hope is that exchanging Westbrook and Wall will improve their situations with Harden and Beal and convince both to stay long term. Both teams are also hoping that Wall and Westbrook can still be top-tier point guards in this league.
