Russell Westbrook (Photo : Getty Images)
The NBA trade rumors went ablaze with Russell Westbrook reportedly up for grabs.
The Boston Celtics has been named as the frontrunner by Howard Beck of Bleacher Report who reported from Las Vegas that Westbrook could be traded "sooner than later."
Beck noted that anyone who has followed the NBA for the past two years can easily conclude that the Celtics have the assets to make an offer that would entice the Thunder to pull the trigger. The main assets are the Brooklyn Nets' unprotected picks. Boston has the rights to swap their first round pick for the Nets' in 2017, which is projected to be a richer draft with more potential superstars than the class of 2016.
Those pieces can easily help Thunder GM Sam Presti, who is one of the best at drafting (the Thunder is solid evidence of that) to rebuild the team. The Celtics also has young talent in Jae Crowder, Marcus Smart, Isaiah Thomas among others who could keep the Thunder competitive.
The only way to trump these packages is to get a superstar in return. That would be a difficult task but not impossible and Matt Moore of CBS Sports has illustrated a proposal that could form a juggernaut to rival the Golden State Warriors.
Moore took on Westbrook's standpoint: "You're Westbrook, the Warriors stole your partner in crime, and that former partner in crime kicked you while you were down via the media on his way out the door. You want to punish Durant and the Warriors, you want to beat them specifically, you want to win titles."
There are teams that would improve immensely if they traded for Westbrook, the Celtics is one such team and would make them a contender in the East, possibly challenging the Cavaliers. But a stronger contender could be formed by being traded to the Cavaliers itself.
The likely price for the Cavaliers would be Kyrie Irving, as Westbrook, Irving and James on the same team would not be a good fit.
Irving is not as good as Westbrook and the Thunder would not actually do this under normal circumstances. But in the context that Westbrook could leave and Irving is at his peak trade value after his Finals performance, it is probably the only time the Cavs could pair two top 5 NBA players together.
For the Cavaliers, Westbrook is an improvement but they take a risk to lose Irving who's locked in a long-term deal, but the Cavs have incentives for Westbrook. Aside from being a contender, Westbrook will reunite with Kevin Love, his UCLA buddy. There were rumors that the two would like to team up again in LA-they have the chance to do that in Cleveland and win titles with the world's best player.
This is purely speculative on Matt Moore's part and the rumors of Westbrook's availability have not been confirmed yet.
