Reason 1 the LA Clippers shouldn’t trade for Russell Westbrook: His contract
This is my primary reason, actually. Russell Westbrook is set to make $41 million this season, $44 million during the 2021-22 season, and then has a player option for $47 million during the 2022-23 season. Call me crazy but he’s definitely taking that option.
Keep in mind, Westbrook is 32 years old, so he’ll be making that money when he’s 34 years old with a game very predicated on his explosiveness.
The Clippers have both Paul George and Kawhi Leonard entering free agency next summer and all signs point to the team wanting to re-sign both of them. That is a ton of money to commit to just three players.
There’s also the issue of getting enough money together to make the trade. Unless the Clips plan on flipping PG for Russ straight up, they would have to sacrifice a whole lot of depth to get enough money together for a trade.
A sign-and-trade involving Montrezl Harrell might be a possibility but that requires Trezz wanting to go to Houston and mutual interest from the Rockets.
There are going to be a lot of moving parts to this trade with the contract being so large. Even if they were able to get every piece in place, taking that kind of money back just does not seem worth it.