Despite offseason trade requests by Russell Westbrook and James Harden, the most likely scenario for the Rockets is to bring both former MVPs to training camp, per ESPN’s NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski.
Training camp for the 2020-21 Rockets is scheduled to begin next Tuesday, Dec. 1, at Toyota Center in downtown Houston.
On Monday night’s SportsCenter, Woj confirmed that the Rockets had engaged in trade talks for Westbrook, while they had not on Harden. However, as of now, it does not appear that a deal for either All-Star is likely — at least not by the time training camp opens next week.
They have not engaged on James Harden in trade talks. Russell Westbrook, they have. That’s not an easy trade to make. I think for the Rockets, getting back into training camp and starting the season is probably a more likely scenario than Westbrook moving.
They’re going to bring DeMarcus Cousins into training camp, see if they can resurrect his career.
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One rumored Westbrook scenario involved him going to Washington in exchange for recently injured point guard John Wall and additional assets. But Wizards GM Tommy Sheppard said Monday that his team isn’t planning to trade Wall, which seems to indicate that no proposal between Sheppard and new Rockets GM Rafael Stone gained traction.
The complete video of Wojnarowski’s comments can be viewed below. Both Harden and Westbrook are under contract with Houston for at least two more years, which means there isn’t much incentive to act quickly.
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Tommy Sheppard just announced in a conference call with reporters that the Wizards have no plans to trade John Wall
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) November 23, 2020