Some Houston Rockets fans would call the trade that brought Russell Westbrook to the team the worst in the history of the franchise:
Apparently, not as many as one might have thought.
The results for our last SB Nation Reacts question are in. A resounding 72% of you said that the Westbrook trade wasn’t the worst in the team’s history.
How can this be?
Rockets have made a few questionable deals throughout history
I’ve been a fan of the team since 1997-ish, and this was unequivically the worst deal I’ve seen the team make.
Yet, the Rockets precede my fandom by a large
margin. There are realistically three other deals in the team’s history that have a case for the team’s worst.
In 1972, the Rockets traded Elvin Hayes to the Washington Bullets for Jack Marin, who you’ve never heard of if you weren’t alive in 1972. From what I can gather, Hayes and the front office weren’t getting along.
In ’82, they moved Moses Malone for Caldwell Jones and a first-round pick, which they’d spend on Rodney McCray, who I think I’ve heard of, but possibly due to having written similar Rockets trade retrospective pieces. He’s certainly no Moses Malone.
Finally, there’s the 1996 Charles Barkley trade. The Rockets sent Robert Horry, Sam Cassell, Chucky Brown, and Mark Bryant to the Suns for a Barkley that had one more All-Star season in the tank.
Are any of those deals as bad as the Westbrook trade?
Rockets’ Westbrook trade among franchise’s worst
Count me among the 29% – Tentatively.
It sure feels like they gave Hayes away. Perhaps it made more sense at the time, but that could be the worst one.
The Malone deal stinks, but it didn’t compromise the team’s future like the Westbrook trade. Giving up multiple first-round picks for a worse player was the real cardinal sin there.
Don’t crucify me: But I don’t hate the Barkley deal. I can’t. They weren’t going to win another championship anyway, Barkley was still Barkley, and it was worth a shot in my mind.
But to each their own.
Could the Rockets make another trade that joins this list in 2026-27? Let’s certainly hope not! If they do, and you feel lucky, head over to FanDuel. They sponsor these posts, and they’ve got any bet you’d like to make after the team trades Reed Sheppard and two future firsts for Kyrie Irving.
(Joking).
