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Report: Rockets hope to trade future draft assets for ‘foundation piece’

ben dubose
·2 min read

With the PJ Tucker trade agreement, the Houston Rockets are further adding to their stockpile of first-round draft capital over the next seven NBA seasons. But that doesn’t mean that they will make all those picks.

Per Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle, general manager Rafael Stone is hopeful of eventually packaging some of those draft assets in a trade for more immediate help. Feigen writes:

The Rockets made the move, trading players — Tucker and Rodions Kurucs — that were not playing for them, to improve their collection of draft assets. But the Rockets are not trying to pile up picks in the hopes of improving their chances to find a future star somewhere in the draft.

They remain very willing, according to an individual with knowledge of the team’s thinking, to trade picks for a player they could consider a foundation piece, the sort of move they would even be willing to make even in a largely lost season.

In many ways, it’s a similar template to when former general manager Daryl Morey slowly improved his asset stockpile before trading for James Harden in October 2012. As was the case with Harden then, the Rockets would have to convince such a player of wanting to stay with Houston long-term, in order for it to be worth giving up those draft assets.

That type of transaction doesn’t seem likely before this season’s March 25 trade deadline, largely because a potential star of that caliber isn’t believed to be on the market. But whenever the next disgruntled star becomes available — be it in the next week, the upcoming offseason, or beyond — Stone has the Rockets in a better position to pounce.

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