Houston Rockets Receive: C Derrick Favors, G Theo Maledon
Oklahoma City Thunder Receive: G John Wall, HOU 2022 1st Round Pick (Top-5 Protected), MIL 2023 1st Round Pick (Unprotected, via HOU)
To make this trade for John Wall work, the Oklahoma City Thunder would have to clear out some cap holds on players no longer on their roster in Raymond Felton, Nick Collison, Norris Cole, Deonte Burton, and some others, as well as send out a decent-sized contract like that of Derrick Favors.
The Thunder acquired Favors and a future first-round pick from the Utah Jazz this offseason in exchange for a 2027 second-round pick and cash considerations, a move the Jazz made to clear up some salary space in order to bring in Rudy Gay.
Oklahoma City may actually look to utilize Derrick Favors in their frontcourt this season since Mike Muscala is the only other true center on their roster. Still, the Thunder should also be more than willing to trade him again since Favors is not a young player that fits into their long-term plans.
If they were to take on John Wall’s contract, the Thunder would need to be on the receiving end of some draft assets as well, since they would be doing the Rockets a favor by taking on Wall’s contract. As mentioned earlier, Wall is owed $44.3M this season and then nearly $50M next season, which is $50M that the Rockets could use elsewhere towards helping their young players and core for the future.
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As a result of giving up two valuable first-round picks, the Rockets could very well look to add a young talent in the process of moving John Wall, hence why the Thunder would give up Theo Maledon.
The Thunder do like the potential that Maledon brings to the point guard position, but the Thunder did recently draft both Josh Giddey and Tre Mann, plus Oklahoma City signed 2020 second-round pick Vit Krejci to a rookie deal.
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Their backcourt is crowded right now, so trading Maledon for John Wall may not be a terrible move for the Oklahoma City Thunder to make, especially since Wall can be a great mentor to guys like Giddey, Mann, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as a score-first combo-guard.
