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John Wall for Russell Westbrook trade could mark end of James Harden-to-Brooklyn talks

nick friar
·2 min read

The Houston Rockets made a trade Wednesday night that had popped up in the NBA rumor mill previously but didn’t appear to have legs once the Washington Wizards general manager said star point guard John Wall wasn’t going anywhere.

Yet on Wednesday, the Rockets announced John Wall is coming to Houston as Washington welcomed Rusell Westbrook to their squad.

Initially, this move appears to be one of two things on the part of Houston: either the Rockets are trying to move their major pieces to bring in new ones to restructure rather than acquire picks and young talent to rebuild, or James Harden wanted to move on from Westbrook and team-up with Wall.

During his appearance on “Get Up,” ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski confirmed it’s the latter.

“For both Houston and Washington, each is trying to please their franchise player, James Harden and Bradley Beal,” he said. “They exchanged both point guards — both point guards wanted to go to the other team. And there’s a lot at stake for both Washington and Houston now, as they move forward trying to keep Bradley beal, trying to keep James Harden long-term.”

Wojnarowski continued, focusing on Harden.

“He had a preference of John Wall over Westbrook. Although, in the last couple years, Harden has moved teammates in and out. Brought Chris Paul in, moved him out. Same with Russell Westbrook no. Whether that’s going to be enough to convince him to wanna be there long-term, [the] Rockets aren’t sure about that. … They’re gonna start the season with Harden and Wall, and they’re hopeful Wall can get back to that All-Star form.”