Strings Attached: Rockets Considering John Wall Trade For Lakers' Russell Westbrook?

When it comes to John Wall and Russell Westbrook, the Houston Rockets and Los Angeles Lakers don't have many other trade solutions.

As the offseason progresses for the Houston Rockets, draft, trade and free agency rumors continue to heat up. Houston owns the No. 3 overall pick in the NBA Draft on June 23, and questions remain about what the team will do with Christian Wood and John Wall.

Wall will be on an expiring $47 million deal next season, and there were talks of a potential trade with the Los Angeles Lakers for Russell Westbrook around this year's trade deadline. Westbrook will also be on an expiring $47 million contract, but he also comes with a little more baggage than Wall would due to his inability to accept being a serviceable role player. Westbrook still believes he's a superstar, but that time in his career has passed.

As much as both teams might be willing to shake things up just for the sake of shaking things up at this point – given that there's not much you can do with such large contracts for players who don't come close to living up to them – NBA reporter Marc Stein says there's only one way the Rockets would be willing to consider doing such a deal.

"The Lakers continue to signal — at least for now with three months to go until training camp opens — that they do not want to force a Westbrook trade that costs them additional assets," writes Stein.

"Regarding the long-running idea that Westbrook could be swapped again for Houston's John Wall, since both would be making near-identical $47 million salaries next season, one source briefed on the situation told me this week that Houston's interest has always been predicated on the Lakers including draft compensation to sweeten the deal, which L.A. steadfastly refuses to do."

Given that Westbrook's deal is expiring, one can understand the Lakers' unwillingness to attach draft assets to offload him. However, LeBron James isn't getting any younger either. Can the Lakers afford to potentially waste another year of James' final years? If they decide the answer to that question is "no," the Rockets will likely still be waiting.