John Wall is headed to the Houston Rockets and Russell Westbrook to the Washington Wizards. While both are marquee names, the blockbuster trade was more about the Rockets trying to appease their franchise player and three-time NBA scoring champion James Harden.
Following the dismissal of general manager Daryl Morey and the exit of head coach Mike D’Antoni, the Rockets are scrambling to please Harden enough to want to stay in Houston. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Harden “had a preference of John Wall over Westbrook.
Harden is reportedly frustrated with the direction of the Rockets franchise. They’ve hired Stephen Silas to replace D’Antoni. They also recognized the one-year experiment of Westbrook and Harden was not working. When presented the options, Harden appeared to prefer playing with Wall.
Wall and Harden have been close friends through the years. The two have also worked out together in the off-season, including this year. However, the pairing is contingent on Wall’s health.
The five-time all-star hasn’t played in an NBA in two years due to a ruptured Achilles. The long-term outlook of Harden staying in Houston will be reliant on Wall staying healthy and returning to his All-NBA form he possessed prior to his latest injury.
