In a summer full of shockers, the Houston Rockets and Daryl Morey made the most recent one by acquiring Russell Westbrook from the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Prior to the deal, the Rockets' GM didn't believe they could actually pull off the trade for the 2017 NBA MVP. In fact, Daryl Morey already informed team owners Tilman Fertitta and Patrick Fertitta that they was no way they can construct a deal for Westbrook, per Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle.
“It didn't seem that there would be a fit for both parties,” Morey said. “I told them (Tilman and Patrick Fertitta) quite a bit that it wasn't going to happen because that's what I believed. I didn't think the pieces lined up. That's why a three-team deal made sense. And I thought other teams would be more involved than we were; teams that had more fits.”
However, as it turned out, the market for Westbrook wasn't as high as Morey believed it to be. The Rockets traded 34-year old All-Star point guard Chris Paul along with two protected first round picks and two pick swaps in exchange for Westbrook.
While the picks may be costly down the road, Houston is in win-now mode. Westbrook is definitely an upgrade from Paul, despite the questions in fit alongside his former teammate James Harden.
The Rockets are reuniting Westbrook and Harden, both of whom started their careers with Oklahoma City. The two meshed well together as the lead back court in OKC. However, since splitting up, both have become very ball-dominant stars with historically monster usage rates.
Nonetheless, both Westbrook and Harden are pumped up to play with each other once again. Whether the two MVPs can mesh well together again after being separated for nearly seven years remains to be seen.
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