The Oklahoma City Thunder and Houston Rockets are swapping point guards, with Russell Westbrook reportedly heading to the Houston Rockets in a deal for Chris Paul, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.
The deal will send Paul to OKC along with two first round picks in 2024 and 2026 and the right to swap picks in 2021 and 2025.
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 ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 12, 2019
Despite initial reports that the Miami Heat were frontrunners to acquire Westbrook, the former MVP had his sights set on reuniting with former teammate James Harden, who played alongside Westbrook in Oklahoma City for three seasons, per Wojnarowski.
After nine playoff appearances in the last 10 seasons, the Thunder appeared to be heading for a rebuild, following Paul George's trade to the Los Angeles Clippers, with the Thunder acquiring multiple draft picks in the deal.
Following Jerami Grant's trade to the Nuggets, the Thunder have now accumulated eight first-round picks in future drafts.
I left out Thunder's Jerami Grant deal with Denver: OKC has acquired EIGHT first-round picks since draft night: 2020: Denver (1-10), 2021: Miami; 2022: LAC; 2023: Miami (1-14), 2024: LAC; 2024: Houston (1-14); 2026: LAC; 2026: Houston (1-4).
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 12, 2019
Westbrook is owed $171 million over the next four seasons and will earn $47.1 million in 2022-23, if he opts in to the final year of his deal.
