ROCKETS ACQUIRE WESTBROOK IN BLOCKBUSTER DEAL
The Houston Rockets have acquired Russell Westbrook in a blockbuster trade with Oklahoma City, reuniting Westbrook with James Harden.
The Rockets will send guard Chris Paul along with two protected first-round picks (2024 and 2026, both protected Nos. 1-4) and two pick swaps (2021 and 2025) to the Thunder.
The Rockets are reuniting two former MVP guards who started their careers together with the Thunder.
Sources say this is a deal Harden and Westbrook are each enthusiastic about.
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.
The fourth overall pick in the 2008 draft, Westbrook won the 2017 MVP, making NBA history as the first player since Oscar Robertson in 1962 to average a triple-double. He broke Robertson's mark of triple-doubles in a season with 42, and then went on to average a triple-double in two more seasons.
Westbrook ranks tied for second all-time with Magic Johnson at 138 career triple-doubles, behind only Robertson (181).