Recently, the Houston Rockets have been in the rumor mill, with some wondering if the team will look to make a trade deadline splash after recently losing Steven Adams for the year due to an ankle injury. In fact, some have even floated the possibility of the Rockets making a play for Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo, or for smaller names like Coby White of the Chicago Bulls.
However, recently, NBA insider Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints pumped the brakes on that speculation for the time being.
“Amid rumored interest in Bulls guard Coby White and potentially looking to move Dorian Finney-Smith before the trade deadline, the Houston Rockets are said to be content with their roster as is,” reported Siegel.
“…the Rockets will only be looking to make moves with players involving minimum-like contracts,” he added.
The Rockets don't have a ton of financial flexibility as the trade deadline approaches, so pulling off trades involving hefty amounts of salary would be a difficult task for the front office.
However, Kelly Iko of Yahoo Sports did report that “Houston is also open to being a facilitator as a third team in larger deals involving other teams.”
Houston would certainly like to add some more depth in the frontcourt after Adams' injury, which threatened to upend arguably the Rockets' biggest strength, their offensive rebounding. Some fans are also clamoring for Houston to try to acquire a true point guard ahead of the deadline.
That role was intended to be occupied by Fred VanVleet, but the veteran guard was unfortunately injured prior to the start of the year, and the prospect of him playing this season isn't necessarily looking likely.
However, even as currently constructed, the Rockets have a great deal of firepower, headlined by Kevin Durant, and they also have plenty of young talent with room to grow.
In any case, the NBA trade deadline is set for Thursday afternoon at 3:00 pm ET. Meanwhile, the Rockets will next take the floor on Wednesday evening at home vs the Boston Celtics.
