The NBA world was set on fire on Wednesday night, following the breaking news that the Houston Rockets had traded All-Star guard Russell Westbrook, who they acquired just one year prior in exchange for Chris Paul, to the Washington Wizards in exchange for former All-Star guard John Wall and a first-round pick.
The interesting factor about this trade is that it was speculated to happen many months ago, following Russell Westbrook’s trade request.
Russell Westbrook’s trade request was an interesting dilemma for the Houston Rocket’s organization because of Westbrook’s reputation around the league. Normally when players request trades, it’s usually superstar players, like Anthony Davis, who want to be traded to a situation where they feel like they can contend for an NBA championship. In these cases, the rest of the league lines up to propose trade offers in the hopes of acquiring a franchise-changing player and the problem for the organization is to choose the best of many lucrative offers. However, the problem for Houston was finding an offer at all in exchange for Westbrook, which was heavily due to Westbrook’s reputation around NBA circles. According to multiple reports, NBA teams viewed Russell Westbrook as a player who was on the decline, was selfish, was a cancer in the locker room and was a financial handicap due to his behemoth contract. The large consensus around the league and especially around the Rocket’s organization was that Westbrook was unwanted and was therefore untradeable.
So, when news broke that John Wall had requested a trade from the Washington Wizards, NBA fans naturally began to speculate a scenario where the teams would swap the two polarizing, disgruntled point-guards in an attempt to avoid any drama during the course of the season. However, trade talks simmered down and the teams weren’t able to reach an agreement, reportedly because Houston was seeking draft capital and Washington wasn’t willing to provide that. However, it appears as though Washington’s desperateness forced them to pull the trigger and trade for Russell Westbrook. Now, we have yet to receive specific details regarding the pick at this point, but I expect this pick to be heavily protected by Washington because it could seriously come back to haunt them if it’s not.
I also strongly believe that this was a trade that neither wanted to make and that neither team is making this trade because they feel it makes them a better team. This trade was a thousand percent about avoiding team chemistry issues because team chemistry is a huge component of basketball, perfectly portrayed by the Clipper’s collapse in last year’s playoffs. In a perfect world, neither team even considers this trade, but we don’t live in a perfect world and this trade involves two of the biggest names in the league at the point-guard position, so here are my thoughts:
From Washington’s perspective, this was a move that they made banking on the fact that Russell Westbrook will be better than whatever is left of John Wall. However, the thing that intrigues me the most is Westbrook’s fit in Washington. Westbrook and Wall are very similar players, but the major separating factor between the two is that Westbrook is more of a shot-chucker, and that can be a serious clash of interest alongside Bradley Beal. Tommy Sheppard, the general manager of the Wizards, has preached all summer long that they are building around Bradly Beal moving forward. In fact, that was the major factor that seemingly upset Wall in the first place. This presents Washington with the same issues Houston faced around the offensive fit of Russell Westbrook. Washington has a player in Bradley Beal who is clearly better than Westbrook at the point of attack, but due to Westbrook’s shooting woes, Beal will most likely have to play off the ball more often than he would like. The frustrating part about the whole Westbrook situation is that Westbrook can still be an excellent off-ball player, despite his shooting woes, but he refuses to make an effort in improving that aspect of his game. With Westbrook’s god-gifted athleticism, he could one of the best cutters in the league and his previous coaches have tried to encourage him to do that for the better part of a decade, but it seems that this fantasy will never convert to reality
Nevertheless, I still do believe that the Wizards can be a good offensive team with Westbrook at the point of attack. This Washington team could very well be the best three-point shooting roster that Westbrook has ever played with. This could be Westbrook’s first time running spread pick and roll, and with him generating good three-point shots for players like Davis Bertans, I believe that the Wizards can be a top 10 offense next season.
Westbrook is also a much safer health bet in comparison to John Wall. John Wall hasn’t touched an NBA court in two full seasons and is coming off the worst injury in basketball. And although Westbrook has had some injury troubles of his own in the past, he appears to be a much safer bet than John Wall.
However, the real problem for this Wizards team will lie on the defensive end of the floor. The Wizards were miserable on the defensive end of the floor last year, ranking second to last in defensive efficiency, and this trade might have made them worse. Westbrook was an awful defender last year, ranking 177th in defensive rating and showcasing a clear lack of effort on that end of the floor. The Wizard’s ability to not be terrible on defense will either make or break their playoff hopes.
From Houston’s perspective, the major trade asset they received in this trade was that first-round pick. Once again, we don’t quite know what the protections on that pick look like, but that pick can prove to be a major win for the organization as they transition into a rebuilding phase.
When it comes to John Wall, the Rockets are heavily relying on Wall still resembling the All-Star Caliber guard we saw two years ago. They are also relying on John Wall to still be an effective pick and roll passer alongside free agency pick-up Christian Wood and Wall’s former Kentucky teammate Demarcus Cousins.
Wall is also a better shooter than Westbrook. Wall is by no means an elite or even average shooter for his position, but he is still a substantial upgrade over Westbrook in that area, which in addition to Wall’s past-first nature could allow Harden to take over more on-ball responsibilities.
However, the biggest question about Houston this season will be their health. The Rockets are heavily relying on two guys, in Demarcus Cousins and John Wall who haven’t played a game of professional basketball in over a year and both of them are coming off of the most damaging injury in basketball. There is a real chance that John Wall comes back as the 20th best point guard in the league and that Demarcus Cousins is unplayable due to his reduced mobility. There is a real chance that everything could just burst into flames for the Houston Rockets. This trade officially marks the third all-star point guard Houston has placed alongside Harden in three years, and if the previous two cases are any indicator of what’s to come, this marriage will end on negative terms. But once again, what choice did they really have?
To me, this was Houston’s last Hail Mary move, in hopes of convincing James Harden to resign. Like I wrote about before, James Harden reportedly declined a two-year extension worth over 100 million dollars this offseason, an extension that would have made Harden the first 50 million dollar annual salary player in NBA history. And all reports indicate that Harden is attempting to force his way out of Houston sooner rather than later. The really tragic part of this situation for Houston is that even if everything goes perfectly, even if John Wall is exactly the same player he was two years ago, even if Demarcus Cousins is still a good NBA player, I still don’t believe that this team is capable of winning a championship. And if the Rockets are not crowned NBA champions by the end of the season, James Harden will most likely begin next season in a different uniform.
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