Rockets Would Be Wise to Trade 2024 NBA Draft Picks for 2025 Playoff Push Amid Rumors
May 12, 2024
The Houston Rockets finished the 2023-24 season at 41-41 and despite the .500 record, showed flashes of a young team with potential to make a legitimate playoff push in the coming years.
They also possess the ninth overall pick in this year's draft.
While that would typically be an exciting development for a team seemingly on the cusp, just one or two pieces away from being a playoff contender, the organization is not feeling it.
Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle reported that the Rockets are not eager to add another prospect in 2024-25 (h/t HoopsRumors). The team would rather give up this year's picks and stockpile more for 2025 and beyond, and understandably so.
The upcoming draft class is remarkably unremarkable at the top. What would usually be a coveted pick does not carry the same value that the ninth overall spot would typically.
B/R's Jonathan Wasserman has compiled the 2024 NBA Draft Big Board, headlined by Ron Holland, Reed Sheppard, and Nikola Topić. While all have the intangibles to be key contributors, none of the three is the obvious game-changer that Victor Wembanyama was when the San Antonio Spurs had the No. 1 overall pick a year ago.
With the lack of a clear, undisputed pick at the spot, and a team still looking to the future to make its run, it makes total sense that the Rockets would want to find a suitor for the pick, in hopes of compiling others and making a run at a more coveted player a year from now.
Earlier this season, Feigen said the team was interested in acquiring Mykal Bridges from Brooklyn in exchange for Jalen Green and the Nets' first-round picks currently controlled by the Rockets. Instead, the Nets opted to chase the playoffs instead of undergoing a reboot.
The same report suggested that the Rockets were looking for the Suns' draft picks, controlled by Brooklyn, in exchange for the Houston-controlled Nets' picks.
If that sounds confusing, it probably is but either way, the intent was to maneuver its way around to get the best and most valuable picks together so that they can acquire the players that will make a playoff push in 2025 a reality.
There is a young core of players for Rockets fans to be excited about already on the team.
Center Alperen Sengun led the team in points (21.1) and rebounds (9.3) this season. Jabari Smith Jr. played 31.9 minutes a game, scored 13.7 points, and amassed 6.3 defensive rebounds. The aforementioned Green scored 19.6 in 31.7 minutes, tallied 5.2 rebounds, and played 82 games for the team this year.
Add to that trio the veteran presence of former Toronto Raptor Fred VanVleet and his team-leading 8.1 assists and 1.4 steals, and you have a roster that is one or two pieces away from potentially making a run in a Western Conference that feels wider open than in recent years.
If the front office can swing a deal to trade the ninth pick and gather more for a potential defining 2025, there is no reason to believe the Houston Rockets will not return to prominence.
