Finally, the NBA world can relax thanks to a timely tweet by Woj himself. Russell Westbrook, the last piece the Oklahoma City Thunder has kept since its relocation, has been traded. It was announced he will be moving to Houston while Chris Paul will be heading over to the Thunder. The move sent shockwaves through the NBA. Basketball fans immediately started going to sites like igaming-apps.com to find online sportsbooks to place a bet on Houston’s title odds.
Additionally, a few draft picks will be going from Houston to OKC.
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
Paul will be moving to a somewhat barren Thunder team after GM Sam Presti traded Paul George to the Los Angeles Clippers just a few days ago. Talks of tension between him and James Harden led to the idea that one of the two were going to leave Houston. The 34-year old has a leftover contract with the Rockets that pays him $44,000,000 in the final year. He is expected to be an unrestricted free agent in 2022.
The 2017 MVP for the NBA, Westbrook leaves a team he has been with since 2008. An eight-time All-Star, Westbrook has seemingly done it all for the Thunder except win a title. After the Paul George deal, Westbrook and his agent spoke to Thunder management regarding a trade. The countdown was on, and it has officially ended tonight.
The deal reunites Westbrook with Harden. Both stars were teammates from 2009-2012, reaching the NBA Finals once with Kevin Durant. With both Westbrook and Harden dealing with the Golden State Warriors separately, this is their chance to take down a somewhat depleted team together, among other organizations.
The 2019 NBA offseason has had its wild moments, but this one takes the cake. It is truly an end of an era for the Thunder and a new one for Houston. The landscape of the NBA has officially been flipped upside down.
The crazy thing is that Westbrook was actually hosting a pop-up comedy show in Tulsa, Oklahoma at the time the news broke.
It’s almost here our first Why Not?? Comedy pop up show in Tulsa, Oklahoma hosted by myself & @IAmJuiceMann Thursday, July 11, 2019 at @CainsBallroom doors will open at 7:30pm & the show will begin at 8:30pm this is a show you don’t wanna miss 🤷🏾♂️🤷🏾♂️ https://t.co/g9i8zhUL7K pic.twitter.com/osFkOaMZl7
— Russell Westbrook (@russwest44) July 2, 2019
Russ was at his comedy show in Tulsa, Oklahoma when he got traded
(via @JD0432)https://t.co/RLQwV8Uku4
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) July 12, 2019
It’s almost as if Russ wanted to distract himself while the teams negotiated.
Now that Harden will be reunited with his former teammate, he spoke about it.
“I’ve been knowing Russell since I was 10 years old,” he said. “We grew up together. Obviously, when I left Oklahoma City, I was sad, but then Houston made a home for me. Rockets is my home, and now an opportunity became available where Russ wasn’t happy. Now we’re back.”
“It’s going to be a lot of fun this year, I guarantee you that. There’s going to be a lot of excitement.”
« Que penses-tu de tes retrouvailles avec Westbrook, maintenant qu’il est avec toi à Houston ? » pic.twitter.com/I4K9wo8rJK
— TrashTalk (@TrashTalk_fr) July 12, 2019
A lot of entertainment, indeed.
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