NBA Draft: Houston Rockets Trades Russell Westbrook To Washington Wizards For John Wall

Russell Westbrook-John Wall deal
Russell Westbrook-John Wall deal

The Houston Rockets and the Washington Wizards recently agreed on a massive trade of two of NBA’s top star point shooting guards namely Russell Westbrook and John Wall in a deal between the two teams, as announced on Wednesday, December 2.

According to the terms of the deal, Houston Rockets will be trading off Russell Westbrook to the Wizards in exchange for John Wall as a first-round NBA draft pick, sources report. The Athletics’ Shams Charania reports that the first-round selection is a protected pick in the 2023 NBA draft. According to the NBA’s official statement, if the protected pick doesn’t happen in 2023, it will have successive protections including picks no. 1 to 12 the following year in 2024, picks 1 to 10 in 2025 and 1 to 8 in 2026. If the pick is not conveyed in 2026, then it will become a second-round NBA draft pick in the years 2026 and 2027.

Russell Westbrook – John Wall Deal Finalized By Team’s GM

The Russell Westbrook deal was wanted by both the players and negotiations regarding this trade were going on between the two teams for a long time. Sources mention that the negotiations were not getting ahead, so discussions were being stalled by both the teams. However, sources mention that the General Managers of both the teams, Tommy Sheppard from the Washington Wizards and Rafael Stone from Houston Rockets got on a call on Tuesday to finalize the deal within hours.

The deal is not an end in itself. With the exchange of Russell Westbrook and John Wall, there is hope for both the teams that they will be able to convince their shooting guards, like Bradley Beal from Washington and James Harden from Houston to stay on with their respective teams for a longer period. This is because of a tiff between Harden and Russell Westbrook, both of whom have expressed their wish to be moved to other teams.