Russell Westbrook decided to call it quits with the Houston Rockets after only one year.

There were a number of reasons as to why Westbrook became disgruntled with the Rockets organization, but there was one that stuck out in particular. According to Henry Abbott of TrueHoop, Westbrook's trust in Houston “would never recover” after he viewed their poor handling of COVID-19 protocols as unprofessional.

For the first time in his career, Westbrook wasn't in control of his destiny as he was at the mercy of wherever Houston decided to ship the former MVP. All of that didn't matter to Westbrook, as he'd seen enough of the mismanagement in Houston apparently to demand that he be traded as the offseason commenced.

There will likely be more of a developing story as to how the Rockets didn't apparently take the pandemic seriously, which didn't sit right with Westbrook and probably other players as well. With both he and Harden's storylines lining up in parallel fashion, there's a chance that Harden will echo the same sentiments.

Though Houston still has the upper hand in the Harden saga, having even one uncomfortable superstar can make for bad business. If the Rockets truly did mishandle the COVID-19 situation, that could easily become an issue that sticks with the franchise for years to come.

For Westbrook, his sole focus now zones in on making the Washington Wizards relevant once more in the Eastern Conference after they've missed the playoffs the past two seasons.

The Rockets still have a difficult equation to figure out with Harden, who keeps expanding his wish list of teams he'd like to be moved to ahead of the upcoming season.