Houston Rockets Receive: Otto Porter Jr. ($28.4M 2020-21 Salary), Thaddeus Young ($13.5M), CHI 2020 1st Round Pick (Pick No. 4), CHI 2022 2nd Round Pick, CHI 2023 1st Round Pick (Top 5 Protected)
Chicago Bulls Receive: Russell Westbrook ($41.0M)
After the 1998 NBA Championship and the eventual departures of Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Head Coach Phil Jackson, the Chicago Bulls began the rebuild… and they are still rebuilding today! After knee injuries ruined Derrick Rose’s chance at being the Bulls’ savior, passing up on the chance to get Russell Westbrook may be too much for the Bulls to do. After bringing in Billy Donovan to coach this youthful Bulls roster, all Chicago needs now is a veteran All-Star to carry the weight.
The Bulls have young talent in Zach LaVine, Lauri Markkanen and Wendell Carter Jr. that are hungry and ready to win now, which is why bringing in Russell Westbrook makes a lot of sense. None of those guys are “alpha dogs” yet in the NBA, but Westbrook sure is and these guys need an alpha.
The Bulls have not had an identity for years but bringing in the triple-double machine himself would make for a very athletic and up-tempoed Chicago Bulls team. Pairing Westbrook with LaVine in the backcourt would be scary for opposing teams as they could easily go on a 9-0 run in a matter of seconds. Combining their athleticism would make for arguably the most athletic backcourt in NBA history.
Although absorbing veteran players contracts is not what the Houston Rockets have in mind, gathering valuable draft assets could make their rebuild easy and quick. Much like with the Charlotte Hornets trade proposal, the Rockets would be able to select one of the top players in this year’s draft with the No. 4 overall pick and would have draft assets for years to come, which could provide useful if they want to package these together with a contract they do not want to hold on to anymore in efforts to bring in another All-Star caliber talent to pair with James Harden.
Otto Porter Jr. did not play much this past year with the Bulls due to injury, but could definitely contribute as the third or fourth option on a team as he has always been an athletic scorer, averaging just about 11.0 points per game and shooting 48.2% from the floor over the course of his 7-year NBA career.
If the Rockets are looking for a trade that provides them with future draft assets, this is definitely the avenue to go as they will gain back some of what they gave up to get Westbrook in the first place. Trying to find a team to take on Westbrook’s mega-contract will be quite difficult, but the Bulls are definitely a suitor that would want to land an All-Star talent such as the 9x All-Star point-guard. Houston is not in a position of power in this scenario and if they are able to pick up 3+ future draft picks, they should not hesitate to pull the trigger.
