Ranking Rafael Stone’s 4 best moves as Houston Rockets GM

Houston Rockets- Rafael Stone’s best moves as general manager

#3 Trading Russell Westbrook for John Wall and a 1st Round Draft Pick

When Stone accepted the General Manager position, he likely envisioned building around superstar guards James Harden and Russell Westbrook. Well, that came crashing down when reports broke out in the off-season that Westbrook wanted out of Houston after one season.

Faced with the difficulty of trading a player on a massive max contract who many assumed was on the declining side of his career in Westbrook, Stone still made it work. Stone gambled on this deal with the Washington Wizards when he acquired All-Star point guard, John Wall, who had not played an NBA game in nearly two years for Westbrook.

Now after about a third of the season in the books for the 2020-21′ season, we see that John Wall is a better fit in Houston than Westbrook is in Washington. Currently, Russell is 2-12 with the Wizards when he is in the starting lineup. Meanwhile, in Houston, when John Wall plays the Rockets are 9-6 and have been even better since the James Harden trade with a record of 6-1.

After looking at the win-loss statistics it would appear that Washington should be the team to acquire a first-round draft pick from this deal. However, that is not the case, as it was the Wizards who had to send the Rockets a first-round pick to seal the deal. The fact that Stone was able to finesse a pick from the Wizards in this deal is the icing on the cake for dealing Westbrook who wanted out of Houston.

Next: Stone's 2nd best move