Paul, Westbrook to swap teams
LAS VEGAS — James Harden and Russell Westbrook are together again, and Chris Paul is leaving Houston to make that reunion happen.
A person with knowledge of the situation said the Oklahoma City Thunder have traded Westbrook to the Houston Rockets for Paul in a swap of two of the top point guards in the NBA. The Thunder also will receive first-round draft picks in 2024 and 2026, plus the right to swap first-rounders in two other seasons, according to the person who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Thursday because the trade has not been announced.
Paul is a nine-time All-Star, Westbrook an eight-time selection. Paul has 9,181 career assists, the most among active players. Westbrook has 138 triple-doubles, tied with Magic Johnson for second-most in NBA history, behind only Oscar Robertson’s 181. Both members of Houston’s new glitzy backcourt are recent MVPs: Westbrook won it in 2017, Harden in 2018. And the trade means that the NBA’s two highest scorers over the past five seasons — Harden with 11,958 points, Westbrook with 10,025 — are now teammates.
Harden and Westbrook were Thunder teammates for three seasons, the last of those in 2011-12, when that duo and Kevin Durant took Oklahoma City to the NBA Finals. The Thunder lost in five games to the Miami Heat, led at the time by LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, and Harden departed that summer for Houston — where he has been an All-Star ever since.
When the Thunder agreed last week to trade Paul George to the Los Angeles Clippers — in a move that essentially sealed 2019 NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard’s decision to leave the Toronto Raptors for the Clippers — it soon became clear Westbrook would be on the move as well. This trade, when completed, will mean Thunder general manager Sam Presti has added eight firstround picks to the team’s stockpile in the past week or so.
Oklahoma City got five firstround future selections as part of the George trade. The Thunder are getting two more in this trade, and they picked up a 2020 firstround pick in the deal completed earlier this week that sent Jerami Grant to the Denver Nuggets.
It’s the latest bold transaction in a wild offseason of movement that already includes Leonard become the first reigning NBA Finals MVP change teams in the offseason after winning that award; Anthony Davis being traded from the New Orleans Pelicans to the Los Angeles Lakers; movement for All-Star point guards Kyrie Irving (Boston Celtics to Brooklyn Nets), Kemba Walker (Charlotte Hornets to Celtics) and D’Angelo Russell (Nets to Golden State Warriors); Durant leaving the Warriors for the Nets; Jimmy Butler going from the Philadelphia 76ers to the Heat in a sign-and-trade; and Al Horford leaving Philadelphia for Boston.
Harden and Paul were teammates for two seasons in Houston. The Rockets had a 3-2 lead over Golden State in the 2018 Western Conference finals when Paul injured a hamstring, and the Warriors rallied to win that series in seven games on their way to the NBA title. This past season, Houston was ousted in the second round by the Warriors.