NBA Offseason 2020: 5 potential landing spots for Russell Westbrook

Russell Westbrook wants out. If the Houston Rockets trade him, these five scenarios might make sense.

I’m not gonna say it. You know, the totally cliche line you’ve already seen on NBA Twitter 20 times after Wednesday’s report from Shams Charania.

But … yeah, Clutch City, we have an issue.

According to The Athletic‘s leading news-breaker, Russell Westbrook wants out of his situation with the Houston Rockets. As ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Tim MacMahon reported earlier in the day, Westbrook has lost faith with the team’s direction, playing style (shocker!) and lack of accountability.

Following the departures of general manager Daryl Morey and head coach Mike D’Antoni, it’s not surprising to hear both Westbrook and James Harden are uncomfortable with how fast Houston’ championship window has closed. The Rockets are on the verge of imploding, and although their franchise superstar doesn’t want out, the co-star he approved Houston trading for last summer does.

Houston’s Chris Paul trade will continue to look worse and worse with each passing day, but even ignoring the sunk costs and lack of hardware to show for it, the remaining three years and $132.6 million on Russ’ contract will be difficult to move. Although he’s not nearly as destructive a player as NBA Twitter makes him out to be, he’s proven throughout his career that he’s not good enough to be the best player on a legitimate title contender, but he also doesn’t possess the sidekick mindset as the second-best player to ease up off the throttle and play his part.

Between that perplexing conundrum, his age (he just turned 32) and the fact that he owns one of the worst contracts in basketball makes him a tough sell to anyone but the most desperate of teams. Still, as difficult as conjuring up a sensible Westbrook trade is, we’re going to plow through and do our best, making sure to include the handful obstacles standing in the way of each one.