Russell Westbrook’s Next Destination?

Kawhi Leonard signing with the Clippers set off thunderous shock waves throughout the NBA. It even got the trade discussions of Russell Westbrook being traded going with Paul George’s departure and Oklahoma City’s sudden need for a rebuild. Rumors are rampantly flying around about Westbrook and his next destination. Keep in mind that Westbrook is under a supermax contract, with his average salary around $41 million a year until 2023 (his base salary/cap hit in 2022-2023 will be $47,063,478). Where would Westbrook be a good fit?

• Miami Heat: Perhaps the best spot for Westbrook, Miami would form their own duo of Westbrook and Jimmy Butler that would give the Eastern Conference another competitive team. Westbrook likes the destination and Pat Riley has a knack for suddenly assembling great teams. South Beach would all Hollywood again with Westbrook’s arrival.
• Detroit Pistons: Detroit is making an aggressive push to get Westbrook, but the Pistons have the sixth-highest salary in the NBA. Weighed down by the contracts of Andre Drummond and Blake Griffin, the Pistons will have to send some salary off to the Thunder if they want Westbrook’s services.
• Houston Rockets: Like Detroit, Houston has a lot of money locked up to their team now (fourth-highest payroll in the NBA currently). The Rockets have been looking to shop Clint Capela and Eric Gordon for quite some time and may want to look into seeing who would want Chris Paul (although at this point, not many teams do). Could a Westbrook/Harden reunion be possible despite the long odds?
• New York Knicks: No.