NBA trades: Rockets trade Russell Westbrook to the Wizards for John Wall

The Houston Rockets and Washington Wizards pulled off a blockbuster NBA trade, swapping Russell Westbrook and John Wall on Wednesday night.

The Houston Rockets and Washington Wizards pulled off a blockbuster NBA trade on Wednesday night, swapping Russell Westbrook and John Wall. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Wizards will send a first-round draft pick to the Rockets as part of the deal.

This trade moves two of the most immovable contracts in the NBA, all in one fell swoop. John Wall hasn’t played in two years, after a series of misfortune and accidental injuries waylayed his career in the aftermath of signing one of the first supermax contracts.

Russell Westbrook has a massive contract himself, but he played at a spectacular All-NBA level last season at times for the Houston Rockets before the NBA season was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Westbrook tested positive for coronavirus himself before the NBA bubble and missed some time in camp and then suffered a leg injury before the playoffs, and simply was never able to get on track as the Rockets suffered a disappointing loss to the Los Angeles Lakers in the second round of the playoffs.

Being able to flip Westbrook to the Wizards for John Wall and receive a first-round pick as part of the deal is a big win for the Rockets, who were incentivized to move him after he requested a trade earlier in the offseason.

In most projections, the Rockets themselves were going to have to incentivize any deal, which obviously makes moving a player under contract for several years unpalatable. We’ll be grading and evaluating this deal further, but at the moment, this seems like a great deal for the Rockets and an intriguing complication for the Wizards.