The Oklahoma City Thunder have agreed to a monumental trade to send Russell Westbrook to the Houston Rockets to reunite him and James Harden, league sources told ESPN.
The Rockets will send guard Chris Paul, two protected first-round picks 2024 and 2026 and two pick swaps 2021 and 2025 to the Thunder, league sources told ESPN.
The Rockets are reuniting two former MVP guards who started their careers together with the Thunder. This was a deal that Harden and Westbrook were each enthusiastic about happening, league sources said.
Thunder general manager Sam Presti worked with Westbrook and his agent Thad Foucher to help honor his hopes of playing with the Rockets, league sources said. The Thunder also discussed a possible deal with the Miami Heat, sources said.
The Thunder could continue to work to find a new team for Chris Paul, league sources said. If the Thunder keep Paul, they'll have a representative lineup that currently includes him, center Steven Adams and forward Danilo Gallinari.
Westbrook has four years and $171 million remaining on his contract with a player option in the final year of his deal set to pay him $47 million should he opt in.
After Paul George's trade to the Los Angeles Clippers, Westbrook and Foucher worked with the Thunder to find an agreeable path forward on Westbrook's future with the franchise. With free agency effectively concluded, and Westbrook's list of preferred destinations extremely short, the timing made trade negotiations complicated.
Still, the Thunder wanted to accommodate Westbrook's wishes as much as possible, which was to reunite with former teammate Harden in Houston, while also finding a trade that fit OKC's objective of rebuilding.
Drafted fourth overall by the Thunder then the Seattle SuperSonics in 2008, Westbrook leaves as the franchise's all-time leader in points 18,859 and second in assists 6,897, third in rebounds 5,760 and steals 1,442. In the Oklahoma City era, Westbrook ranks first across the board.
Westbrook is one of just 10 players in NBA history to record 15,000 points, 5,000 rebounds and 5,000 assists with a single franchise, seven of which are in the Hall of Fame. The other two are Kobe Bryant and LeBron James.
Westbrook will be forever connected to the Thunder as the face of the franchise, pledging his loyalty to the organization in the wake of Durant's departure to the Golden State Warriors in 2016. Westbrook re-upped with OKC, stabilizing the roster and providing a path forward, and then signed a five-year extension in 2017, at the time the largest contract in NBA history.
Westbrook re-upped with OKC, stabilizing the roster and providing a path forward, and then signed a five-year extension in 2017, at the time the largest contract in NBA history.
Westbrook has four years and $171 million remaining on his contract with a player option in the final year of his deal set to pay him $47 million should he opt in.
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