Houston Rockets: 3 outcomes for Westbrook/Wall trade
2. The Houston Rockets rebuild
The aforementioned Tim McMahon tweet, where the Houston Rockets’ front office maintains their intention to compete, could be genuine. It could also be a smokescreen, leveraging their options to encourage other teams to come with their very best trade packages to “persuade” the Rockets to move their superstar in James Harden.
Even if it is genuine, the early season could convince the Rockets of their need to pivot. For years this team flipped its asset base for short-term upgrades. This is a reasonable thing for a franchise to do when it has a shot at a title, and the Rockets absolutely proved that despite their inability to get past the Golden State Warriors. Yet now it leaves them without many long-term pieces.
That depleted asset base needs to be refilled, and the Rockets could continue their trend this offseason of accumulating picks by moving Harden for a massive haul of picks and players. In this scenario, John Wall is showcased in a different way on this team.
Depending on what comes back for Harden, this team won’t be reaching for contention. Instead they would likely look to maximize their own draft position (i.e. tanking) and evaluating their young players. The team signed young center Christian Wood, and acquired on-the-cheap a collection of intriguing players in Mason Jones, Kenyon Martin Jr., David Nwaba and Sterling Brown.
Where does that leave Wall? Without Westbrook or Harden this team would be very light on lead ball-handlers, giving Wall an open platform to run this team. Even if he has lost a step, the Rockets could seek to rehabilitate his value by giving him touches and possessions. Perhaps a team out there (the New York Knicks are perking up) sees him on the court again and is convinced to take him off of the team’s hands. Other monstrous contracts such as Chris Paul’s became neutral or even positive value after a good year.
Wall likely doesn’t want to be a part of a tanking team, but on a contract such as his he doesn’t get much say in the matter. A rebuild may be the best option for the Rockets, and Wall is probably a better fit for that than the dominant force that is Russell Westbrook.