Since 2013 when James Harden arrived in Houston via trade from the Oklahoma City Thunder, Harden was crawling out of his sixth-man role. Seven years later, the Rockets had four top 10 players at their position with no championship to show for it.
Russell Westbrook is likely a centerpiece who could be on the trade block to bring in value for Houston’s questionable small ball style. This season the Rockets were bounced in five games to LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers in the western conference semi-finals. Westbrook is an athletic freak who never sells any team short on effort. However, his shooting and health is a liability that the Rockets could entertain in a trade package to bring in another guard who complements Harden’s game. The ideal team for Westbrook would be the New York Knicks. In the past few years, New York has drafted moderate scorers with no explosiveness. The last thing people want to see is Westbrook in a big market like New York under James Dolan who accepts defeat every season. One benefit as a Knicks guard would be Westbrook not in the shadow of another top 10 player at their position.
Pieces were traded away and no improvement in recent years was made. P.J. Tucker was forced to play as a center and remained a corner three-point specialist, Clint Capella was traded, Danuel House jeopardized his NBA bubble season and Eric Gordon attempted plenty of deep threes he struggled to hit off his left ankle injury. Houston likely will add defensive players who can guard the perimeter and snag a big man for rim protection this offseason.
With Houston general manager Daryl Morey stepping down a year after his controversial retweet about China/Hong Kong, league sources believe the Rockets are likelier to look into trading away explosive All-Star point guard Russell Westbrook.
Westbrook averaged 27 points, seven rebounds, and seven assists this season. $85.5 million is left on Westbrook contract for the last two years with a third-year player option via hoopshype. Although his numbers are significant, Westbrook failed to show up in Game 5 vs. LA and the quad injury put a question mark on his future. Houston has a bigger problem and it all boils down to style of play. ISO ball doesn’t work and after the departure of former GM Daryl Morey and head coach Mike D’Antoni, Houston a team with no identity or direction. Westbrook is ball dominant and at time could cost the Rockets a game with his fourth-quarter decision making.
Flip the page to see who he could be traded to.