Thunder, Rockets Pull Off Massive 8-Player Trade

There's certainly no Donovan Mitchell or Kevin Durant involved, but no less than eight players are on the move as the Oklahoma City Thunder and Houston Rockets have pulled off a massive trade.

ESPN Sources: The Oklahoma City Thunder are trading Derrick Favors, Ty Jerome, Moe Harkless, Theo Maledon and a 2025 second-round pick via Atlanta to the Houston Rockets for David Nwaba, Sterling Brown, Trey Burke and Marquese Chriss.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) September 30, 2022

It lines up like this:

Rockets get:

• Derrick Favors
• Ty Jerome
• Moe Harkless (just obtained this week)
• Theo Maledon
• 2025 2nd-round pick 

Thunder get:

• David Nwaba
• Sterling Brown
• Trey Burke
• Marquese Chriss

The biggest name—and biggest contract—involved is 12-year veteran Derrick Favors. He and his $10.8M expiring deal were always going to be on the move from the youth-focused Thunder, as we noted yesterday. 

Per NBA Insider Adrian Wojnarowski, the deal was mostly for cap reasons. The Thunder gain two trade exceptions and drop about $10M under the luxury tax. The Rockets get a second-round pick for taking on $1M in salary.

Normally an eight-player trade would be considered a "blockbuster", but many fans around the league were left scratching their heads, as there's nothing too earth-shattering for either franchise going on here.

The Rockets and Thunder really traded each other some pocket lint and couch cushion change i’m cryin 🤣😂🤣

— H U S A Y N (@TheHusayn) September 30, 2022

Most pointless trade in history

— NBA University (@NBA_University) September 30, 2022

my honest reaction pic.twitter.com/LmnOYjA9TZ

— pissboi (@PizzafaceJake) September 30, 2022

It's very possible that some of the players won't be making the regular-season roster of their new teams, as both sides now have 18 guaranteed contracts, and need to get down to 15 by opening night.

Photo: SARAH PHIPPS/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK