Russell Westbrook made a change to his payments schedule to facilitate his trade from the Oklahoma City Thunder to the Houston Rockets, according to a report.
The New York Times’ Marc Stein reported on Thursday that Westbrook agreed to amend his pay schedule to make his payouts more team-friendly and less front-loaded.
To facilitate his recent trade to Houston, Russell Westbrook agreed to amend the pay schedule on his contract to make payouts more team-friendly and less front-loaded, league sources say
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) August 8, 2019
Westbrook was traded to the Rockets on July 16 in exchange for Chris Paul, two future first-round picks (top-4 protected) and two pick swap rights. He has four years remaining on the 5-year, $206 million contract extension he signed with the Thunder in 2017. He is due $38.5 million next season, then $41.3 million, $44.2 million, and $47 million in his final season.
Stein does not include any further details in his report about how this will be executed, but it seems like this is unrelated to how much money Westbrook will count against the salary cap each year.
In MLB, some players who sign contracts agree to have money deferred and receive their payments over time. Due to inflation, receiving the money in future years would be viewed as less valuable than receiving it all in the present day/during the life of the contract (this is something the Nationals reportedly tried to do with Bryce Harper). Teams sometimes prefer these arrangements because it eases their financial obligations and allows them to meet payroll and avoid other cash flow issues.
