For any Bulls fans holding onto hope that the team will acquire All-Star point guard Russell Westbrook from the Oklahoma City Thunder, this is for you.
Thursday, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported on Twitter that the Thunder have agreed to trade Westbrook to the Houston Rockets. The Thunder will acquire point guard Chris Paul, two first round picks (2024 and 2026) and pick swaps with the Rockets in 2021 and 2025.
The fact that the Bulls won't be acquiring Westbrook shouldn't come as a surprise to Bulls fans, of course. Earlier on Thursday, Bulls vice president John Paxson pretty much shot down the possibility of the Bulls acquiring the 30-year-old Westbrook.
"Everybody pays attention obviously to what's going on, what the deals around the league are," Paxson said on 670 The Score. "But I think every team is at kind of a different stage of development and evolution. There are teams that are going to take a real shot at someone like that. You have to factor in everything.
"When you look at the financial aspect of a player that's 30 going out four years and the amount of money that's going to be made, those things can tie your hands up and put your organization in a tough position."
To Paxson's point, Westbrook still has four years and $170 million remaining on the $205 million extension that he signed in 2017. This, in addition to the draft capital that the Rockets are reportedly sending to the Thunder for Westbrook's services.
NBA
For these reasons and more, the Bulls acquiring Westbrook never truly made sense.
It was only just a dream.
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