The NBA regular season will begin for the first time in the past 17 years without Russell Westbrook on an NBA roster. The former Nuggets player opted out of his player option with the Nuggets to become a free agent this offseason. However, reality hit him hard as he found himself not in demand from any team other than probably the Sacramento Kings.
Until a few days ago, it seemed like this was it for Westbrook, and he would have to wait with uncertainty until December to potentially join a team. However, a sudden ray of hope has shown itself behind a nearly eclipsed NBA future for Westbrook. His former team, the Houston Rockets, is now in need of a veteran point guard after losing Fred VanVleet to an ACL injury earlier this summer.
While sources suggest that the Rockets cannot add another point guard until December 15 without making a trade from the limited list of available players, who are mostly all crucial to the team’s plans. However, some recent activity has suggested that there may be mutual interest between the Rockets and Westbrook to end up with a deal in December.
Primarily is ofcourse the need to give Reed Sheppard some veteran guidance on the court while Fred VanVleet recovers through the season. Secondly, it is noteworthy to observe that Westbrook has been active on social media and recently reacted to a Rockets post, which suggests that he likes what he sees in Houston.
The post that he liked had his former teammates Kevin Durant and Steven Adams, who both played with him on the Thunder. Moreover, one of the biggest setbacks in Westbrook’s legacy had been that he failed to win a championship with prime Durant. The duo has a long and emotional history together. Despite the comments from Westbrook on his true feelings about Kevin Durant leaving the Thunder, it seems that the duo has swallowed their differences.
Kevin Durant, Steven Adams and Russell Westbrook were teammates for three seasons on the Thunder from 2013 (when Adams was drafted) to 2016 (when Durant left for the Warriors). During these three seasons, Kevin Durant averaged 29.5 points, 7.6 rebounds and 5.1 assists and won his only regular-season MVP award in 2014.
Meanwhile, Westbrook averaged 24.7 points, 8.9 assists and 7.1 rebounds and started taking the leap towards his eventual MVP season in 2017. Steven Adams was a resilient center who was in the nascent stages of his NBA career at the time when this trio played together. He averaged 6.2 points, 6.0 rebounds and 1.0 blocks in those three seasons.Â
In my opinion, the Rockets should look to trade away either Jae’Saen Tate or Aaron Holiday to make space for a veteran point guard like Russell Westbrook. He would be the perfect veteran to guide Reed Sheppard during his growth as the future point guard of the team. The 36-year-old guard will still consider joining other teams in the process but it would be the perfect end to his career if he wins a championship with Kevin Durant and Steven Adams on the Rockets.
Kevin Durant On Similarity Between Rockets And Thunder With James Harden, Russell Westbrook
During the post-practice media session with the Rockets’ press members, Durant discussed if he saw any similarity between the Rockets he currently plays on and the Thunder team he had with James Harden and Westbrook back in 2012 when they went to the Finals.
“Oh I mean, the young energy is probably similar. I think that was a unique group and I think this is a unique group that’s totally seperate from one another. But I think the youthful energy that they come with in this facility and everybody comes with, I think the coaching staff as well, think that’s pretty similar cause we were at the infant stages of what we were trying to do back then too, so you can feel that here.”
While almost everything has changed in the franchise over the past few seasons of their rebuild, they seem to have finally found an identity and look to strongly compete for a championship. If Westbrook does end up joining the Rockets and Durant wins a championship with him, then it would not just be a storybook ending for Westbrook but also for Durant, who has constantly been criticized for failing to lead a non ‘super team’ to a championship.
