Report: Russell Westbrook Interested in Possible Trade to Heat
After recently agreeing to trade away MVP candidate Paul George, the Thunder are now "receptive toward trade calls" for Russell Westbrook, Shams Charania of The Athletic reports.
Oklahoma City reached this decision after talking with Westbrook and his agent, but with so many teams across the league having frozen salaries because of free agency, this time of the year might be hard to move Westbrook and his monster contract.
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com reports the Heat have expressed interest in the 2017 MVP and Westbrook finds the idea of a possible move to Miami appealing.
The eight-time All-Star just finished his 11th NBA season and is set to make $38.5 million next season. He is on the books for $41.3 million in 2020-21 and $44.2 million in 2021-22. He also has a player option for $47 million in 2022-23. Westbrook turns 31 in November.
The Thunder also recently agreed to trade Jerami Grant to the Nuggets to help save more than $35 million in salary and luxury tax.
Coming off a 49–33 season that featured the team getting bounced in the first round of the playoffs for the third straight year, Oklahoma City appears to be headed toward a rebuild.
