The Houston Rockets have had a solid season thus far, going 22-25 which has them a half-game behind the Utah Jazz for the 10-seed in the Play-In out West. Considering the Rockets won 22 games all of last year, that is a pretty strong turnaround for this Houston club, but they apparently are not satisfied with sizable improvement if it doesn’t yield a playoff berth.
According to Kelly Iko, Sam Amick, and Shams Charania of The Athletic, the Rockets are star-hunting ahead of the trade deadline, looking beyond the names we know are on the market — Dejounte Murray, Zach LaVine, etc. — and trying to use their bevy of future first round picks and young talent to acquire an All-Star caliber player. Houston apparently attempted to deal some of Brooklyn’s own picks from the James Harden deal back to them to land Mikal Bridges, but Brooklyn reportedly turned them down.
Houston has been pursuing upgrades to the roster, searching for another All-Star-caliber type who fits the two-way mold Udoka is looking for, and the organization has the available resources to do so. The Rockets have four first-round picks eligible to be traded — two via Brooklyn in 2024 and 2026 and their own in 2028 and 2030.
Names that have been linked with them as the trade market has developed — Atlanta’s Dejounte Murray and Chicago’s Zach Lavine — don’t appear to be enticing to the Rockets. The Rockets have joined the long line of teams showing extremely high interest in Nets forward Mikal Bridges, league sources say. Houston made an offer including multiple first-round draft picks for Bridges in recent weeks, but the Nets have zero interest in any deal involving Bridges, who is part of Brooklyn’s core moving forward.
It will be interesting to see who else they pursue, as one would expect they are looking for someone on the younger end of the star spectrum considering their overall roster age. The report also indicates the Rockets are willing to part with some of their young core as part of a deal, with Jalen Green no longer considered untouchable — with Alperen Sengun closer to that designation now amid a breakout season.
As of right now, there aren’t any players known to be available in that vein, but Houston is one of the few teams in the league that can look to pry a player that’s not necessarily on the trade block away from a team with their stash of very valuable future firsts and young players. If there is a team that is even considering shifting gears into a rebuild or just restarting the clock with young talent, Houston is ready to pounce and has the asset ammo to make an offer a team simply can’t refuse.