data-mm-id=”_9y2zowviz”>The Houston Rockets continued their teardown on Wednesday, shipping Russell Westbrook to the Washington Wizards in exchange for John Wall and a protected first-round pick in 2023. The deal is a swap of max contracts for the two sides and paves the way for Houston to fully tear down the Daryl Morey-Mike D'Antoni experiment. Westbrook has three years and $132.5 million left on his contract — the third year is a player option for $47 million he'd be crazy not to opt-in to. Wall has three years and $132.8 million left and similarly has a massive player option for the 2022-23 season he'll almost certainly accept. This wasn't about cutting costs or that first-round pick for Houston, this was all about a reset.Wall is 30 and a former five-time All-…

data-mm-id=”_p263rct5t”>The 2023 NBA Finals between the Denver Nuggets and Miami Heat tips off on ABC on Thursday night. ESPN's Mike Breen will call the games alongside Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson, with Lisa Salters rounding out the broadcast. During a media conference call on Tuesday morning, Van Gundy and Jackson talked about a number of things, including the Denver fans, disrespect and Mike Malone's complaints about the narrative. Asked about the reaction to his leaving Nikola Jokic off his MVP ballot, Jackson downplayed the backlash in Denver where he, Breen and Van Gundy called Game 1 and Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals. "I've had no issues at all," Jackson told the media over Zoom. "And I don't expect any, you know, other than, one o…