Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey has shed some light on the painstaking effort he and the rest of the Rockets had to endure in order to successfully pull off the Russell Westbrook trade with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

According to the high-ranking executive, the deal was always on the edge throughout the entire ordeal. Morey detailed the negotiations:

“Yeah, it did. It did,” admitted Morey, via Sam Amick of The Athletic. “Mostly in the back and forth with Oklahoma City, and they did a really good job. It’s never easy to get a deal done. The difference between almost done and done feels like more than the distance between anything else – like, it’s more than half, for sure. But once we knew that the opportunity was there, there was a lot of – obviously – discussion, debates, analysis, back and forth with OKC. So there was a lot – a lot going on. It was a very intense period.

“Actually, when people tell me now that it was only five days from when we knew there was a chance to when it happened, it felt like two months honestly. Like, it was a really, really intense period. I’ve talked about it being the biggest risk…but people, I think, misinterpreted that I meant Russell (was the risk). But I meant more like – whenever you give up a significant chunk of your future, it’s (a risk). If I have any job – and sometimes I’m the only one worried about it – it’s how do I properly balance the present and the future. When you’re giving up future (assets), I need to be really careful that I’m making sure the franchise is protected and (owner) Tilman (Fertitta) and things like that.”

Morey went on to say that in his books, this was by far the most intense deal he has ever been involved in throughout his tenure in the league:

“Well, prior to the deal happening, it was by far the most,” he said. “I’d say the Chris Paul deal that got canceled (by the NBA)was the most intense after (the deal), but prior to a deal, yeah. I don’t think anything was close, actually.”

This trade has been paying dividends for Morey and the Rockets thus far, with Westbrook currently averaging 26.0 points (on 47.1 percent shooting), 13.0 rebounds, 10.0 assists, 1.5 steals, and 0.5 blocks in his first two games for Houston.