If you were in the camp that wanted to see the Detroit Pistons land former Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook, you might want to stop reading now.
Breaking: The Oklahoma City Thunder have agreed to trade Russell Westbrook to the Houston Rockets for Chris Paul, first-round picks in 2024 and 2026, pick swaps in 2021 and 2025, league sources tell @wojespn and @royceyoung. pic.twitter.com/D7EreMdncL
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) July 12, 2019
The rumor mill had been churning for a few days, with our Pistons seemingly in the mix for the triple-double machine.
There had been recent chatter that Oklahoma City might end up being forced to include extra pieces in a trade to make Westbrook’s enormous contract more palatable for potential suitors, but in the end it seems that the Thunder were able to walk away from the trade with the future assets that they desired.
This makes for a reunion of sorts as well, as Westbrook and James Harden of the Houston Rockets were teammates until after the 2011-12 season, when Harden was traded to Houston after he and the Thunder were unable to agree on a long term contract extension.
As for Chris Paul, who is heading to Oklahoma City, this will be his fourth different team he has played for in his NBA career. In his last year with Houston, he averaged 15.6 points per game in 58 games, while also dishing out 8.2 assists per game.
Going with Paul to Oklahoma City are two first round draft picks, as well as the opportunity for Oklahoma City to swap first round draft picks with Houston on two other separate occasions.
While the first question that comes to my mind is whether or not there will be enough ball to go around for the both of them on the same offense, I suppose that seeing our Pistons sit idly by while this trade is made might have been for the best. After all, the potential of losing four first round draft picks doesn’t do much to help a team that is still taking it’s best shot at rebuilding.
