It’s barely been more than one year since the blockbuster December 2020 trade sending Russell Westbrook from Houston to Washington and John Wall from the Wizards to the Rockets. Now, with the star-studded Los Angeles Lakers (where Westbrook was traded to after last season) mired in mediocrity and on a five-game losing streak, could the stars be aligning for the All-Star guards to be traded for each other again?
In the aftermath of another L.A. loss on Christmas, numerous media reports on Monday (CBS Sports, HoopsHype, The Ringer) are discussing the possibility, and with good reason. With LeBron James turning 37 years old this week, there’s a high sense of urgency for the Lakers to make win-now moves. The Westbrook fit has yet to materialize, but considering his bloated contract at an average of more than $45 million per season over the next two years, there isn’t a long list of trade suitors.
Moreover, even if a team was willing to accept Westbrook’s salary, would they be willing to do so while simultaneously giving up players who could help the Lakers win games in the short-term? If not, it largely defeats the purpose. That’s where the Rockets could come into play, should Los Angeles refuse to stay the course at the Feb. 10 trade deadline.
In December 2020, the Rockets reportedly saw Wall as a better fit next to James Harden than Westbrook was, and it’s possible the Lakers could feel the same way about the fit next to LeBron. In addition, since both players are on virtually identical contracts, it wouldn’t harm the Lakers’ long-term salary cap situation. That was another reason why Westbrook and Wall were traded for one another in 2020 — many other teams likely viewed each player as having negative trade value due to their bloated salaries. If swapping for one another, that concern is negated.
A year ago, market forces called for the team giving up Wall (Washington) to give up a protected future first-round draft pick to the team giving up Westbrook (Houston). There were two main reasons. The first was that Wall hadn’t played in the NBA in two years and was coming off an Achilles tear and subsequent complications. The second was that Houston was the more desperate team due to Harden’s trade request, and something needed to change to potentially salvage the relationship. (It ultimately didn’t work, but given Harden’s stature as a perennial MVP frontrunner, you can’t blame general manager Rafael Stone for trying.)
Today, however? The concerns related to Wall’s Achilles are no more after a successful 2020-21 campaign with the Rockets, and it’s the Lakers who are desperate to make a move based on their current struggles and the obvious incentive to maximize LeBron’s dwindling prime years.
It should also be noted that Wall is a client of Klutch Sports and super-agent Rich Paul, who is known for his tight relationship with LeBron. With Wall now wanting to play, it shouldn’t come as a surprise if Paul eventually sees the Lakers as the best and most realistic fit this season. If so, could some further strings be pulled behind the scenes?
From Houston’s perspective, there is zero incentive to trade Wall for Westbrook without draft or prospect sweetener. For the same reasons that Houston isn’t playing Wall (a desire to play younger guards like Kevin Porter Jr.), the same logic holds true with another veteran in Westbrook. And unlike Wall, who has proven willing to mutually sit out while still helping his teammates, Westbrook has given no such indications. Thus, without extra compensation or Westbrook being willing to give back more money than Wall in a buyout, Houston would likely stay the course with the non-playing arrangement that it already successfully negotiated.
So, in a period of just over a year, could Stone and the Rockets somehow extract draft compensation on both ends of a Wall-Westbrook swap? As of late December, it should be emphasized that all of this is conjecture. No reports have yet emerged of concrete trade discussions between the Lakers and Rockets. But if losses continue to mount for Los Angeles in the weeks ahead and no other trade suitors for Westbrook emerge, it’s a storyline worth monitoring as the Feb. 10 deadline nears.
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List
Houston Rockets player salaries for 2021-22, future seasons
