The 2022 NBA trade deadline is on Feb. 10, so rumors are ramping up and there will surely be deals happening soon. The Houston Rockets, with several good complementary players on short-term contracts, figure to be a major player at the deadline this season. For the past several seasons, the Rockets have been a team willing to unload assets for useful players at the trade deadline. However, this season, they'll be the team looking for prime assets.
No player will attract more interest for Houston than guard Eric Gordon. The veteran is a seasoned playoff contributor with a versatile skill set on both ends of the floor. He's a capable secondary ball handler, a reliable 3-point shooter, and multi-positional defender. He's also quick on his feet and strong enough to play in a switching scheme defensively. Gordon is also actually healthy and playing very well for the Rockets right now (14.6 points per game on 61.8% true shooting). There are few players available on the market who could provide more value to a playoff team than Gordon, and Houston will field a ton of calls for him.
So the exercise here is to find the best on-court fits for Gordon. Of course there are mitigating factors that go into a trade destination such as draft capital and matching salary, but we're going to prioritize fit for this list. Houston can probably get more value for Gordon, but all of these can be fallback options if they strike out elsewhere.
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Best Eric Gordon trade fits for Rockets
If the Clippers are serious about becoming contenders by the time Paul George and Kawhi Leonard get healthy this season, Eric Gordon is an excellent fit on that squad. The organization has just struggled to put together competent guard play around Leonard and George since they landed in Los Angeles. Gordon adds an element of dribble penetration and outside scoring threat that they don't currently have. The Clippers are also sorely lacking a capable defender to put up against quick guards.
Since they're also quite keen on resting players, Gordon is someone who can help keep their heads above water when George or Leonard sit games in the future. It may cost them a near-expiring contract in Eric Bledsoe and a pair of second-round picks, but if the franchise isn't all in at this point, what are they doing?
Brooklyn's inclusion on the list is based on the potential of both franchises going nuclear at the trade deadline. This means the Rockets move Christian Wood in addition to Gordon, and the Nets decide that Kyrie Irving isn't worth the headache anymore. It's a complete long shot and probably won't happen, but that's not the purpose of this list. This list is trying to find the best fits for Eric Gordon's talents. Few spots fit him like a glove more than the Brooklyn Nets.
Everyone knows by now that Gordon can fit quite cleanly next to James Harden, he's an added defender in the backcourt, and he can play both home and road games — which Irving cannot. It's hard to argue that he doesn't make the current Nets a much better basketball team and less reliant on Kevin Durant and Harden going supernova to bank regular-season wins. Again, it's unlikely, but worth bringing up.
3. Phoenix Suns
The Suns may be a team hesitant to rock the boat much at the trade deadline. They're already out their 2022 first-round pick and they have a decent guard rotation already. However, if they wanted to bolster their bench units, Gordon is pretty malleable positionally. The Rockets have used him at small forward and shooting guard, and he would add defensive versatility next to Chris Paul and Devin Booker when they're staggered that Cameron Payne doesn't have. Like with Harden, we already know that Gordon can play next to Chris Paul without a hitch.
The Suns could get quirky with small-ball lineups like Paul, Booker, Gordon, Mikal Bridges, and Jae Crowder to counter the Warriors when they play Draymond Green at center. It's just food for thought, but if the Suns are an active deadline team and can't acquire someone bigger like Harrison Barnes at the deadline, Gordon makes some sense.
It's going to be really fascinating to see what direction the Cavaliers decide to go at the trade deadline. They're clearly a team on the rise, but still very young at their core. If they decide that Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen, and Darius Garland is a strong enough core to start building around, forking over a first-round pick to complement that nucleus might not be so painful. Gordon makes a ton of sense here, but it's really hard to find matching salary to give to Houston that isn't valuable. It may be simpler to construct a trade where they give Houston a young player as an asset without a first-round pick. The on-court fit makes sense since Cleveland is lacking the scoring punch that Collin Sexton gave them before going down for the season.
The Mavericks are in a bit of a pickle as far as trying to make trades. Because of the Stepien Rule, they can't move a first-round pick until 2025. Meaning as far as draft capital is concerned, you're pretty much talking second-round picks (like the Clippers). They do have matching salary in Dwight Powell and Josh Green, and since Green is only 21 years old, it's possible they can get away with constructing a trade with just second-round picks. Gordon would certainly help the Mavericks on the defensive side of the ball, filling in next to Luka Doncic, Tim Hardaway Jr., Jalen Brunson, and Reggie Bullock.
More importantly, Dallas is among the worst 3-point shooting teams in basketball right now (26th in percentage), so Gordon would immediately give them a boost. As a lot of these destinations, this is probably closer to a fallback trade for Houston if Rafael Stone is unable to recoup a first-round pick, but it makes sense from a basketball perspective.
The Lakers are incredibly limited in what they can do at the trade deadline. As far as draft capital, they've traded most of it and are left with second-rounders to move. Also, so much of their salary is tied up in LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Russell Westbrook that it's very hard to construct trades on the margins. One player does stick out as a meaningful asset for Los Angeles: Talen Horton-Tucker. Horton-Tucker is just 21 years old and has great size for a guard (6-foot-4 with a 7-foot wingspan).
He also has a decent-sized salary ($9.5 million owed in 2021-22), so you can use him as an asset and matching salary. The complication here is that Houston needs roster spots before executing such a trade, and it would need to happen Jan. 14 or later. Gordon does make sense as a floor spacer and defender next to Westbrook, James, and Davis, though. He would immediately become someone who would close games for the Lakers.
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