As with any rebuild, the Houston Rockets will want to acquire a star-level player at some point. It's clear that their first stab at it is going to be through the draft (via Jalen Green), but the best rebuilds put the organization in position to do all three: draft, trade, and/or free agency. Houston won't be able to sign a max free agent until 2023, so free agency is temporarily off the table for now. However, in the background of trying to develop high draft picks and waiting for 2023, the Rockets will need to rebuild their war chest of assets. The better the war chest, the better Houston is positioned to trade for that star.

The current war chest:

Good contracts:

Eric Gordon

Christian Wood

Daniel Theis

David Nwaba

Jae'Sean Tate

Including Eric Gordon here is a little controversial, but I firmly believe the Rockets will be able to move his contract for positive value in the upcoming year. Gordon's a proven floor spacer who can defend and already has his fair share of playoff battles. His number may be on the high-end of what teams are comfortable trading for at the February trade deadline, but it's definitely on that spectrum. The inclusion of Christian Wood, Daniel Theis, David Nwaba, and Jae'Sean Tate are easier sell-jobs. All four are really good role players that can fetch first-round picks – something a team trading a star would really want.

Young players/draft picks:

Kevin Porter Jr.

Kenyon Martin Jr.

Jalen Green

Alperen Sengun

Usman Garuba

Josh Christopher

2022 Houston Rockets first-round pick

2022 Best first-round pick of Brooklyn or Miami

2023 Houston Rockets first-round pick

2023 Brooklyn Nets first-round pick *swap*

2023 Milwaukee Bucks first-round pick

2024 Brooklyn Nets first-round pick

2024 Houston Rockets first-round pick *if 1-4*

2025 Second best first-round pick from Oklahoma City, Brooklyn, and Houston

2026 Brooklyn Nets first-round pick

2026 Houston Rockets first-round pick *if 1-4*

The deals to send out Robert Covington, P.J. Tucker, and James Harden did wonders to refill Houston's coffers from an asset standpoint. The 2019 trade for Russell Westbrook was behaving like an anchor on Houston's upward mobility and Harden's trade demand opened up an avenue to correct the mistake as best as possible. The Rockets could still take some gut punches in a couple of years when those picks start to convert, but it'll hurt less now that they have these Nets picks handy.

Do they have enough to trade for a star player right now?

If the first-round picks Houston drafted this year are as good as advertised, this is objectively a pretty healthy collection of assets. It's a notch below Oklahoma City and New Orleans, but the Rockets can realistically start taking swings at star players now. It shouldn't have been surprising when Houston sniffed around the Damian Lillard sweepstakes this summer. It's exactly the kind of thing they should be doing right now.

There's also plenty of room for improvement. Houston can nab more first-rounders for players like Eric Gordon in the upcoming transactional periods. If they keep building out their war chest, they'll be on the same playing field as any non-Thunder team in the league. They do, however, need to also start looking like an attractive destination so player agents don't stonewall Houston's attempts at acquiring a star. This means the Rockets will need big seasons from young players like Kevin Porter Jr. and Jalen Green.

So when will Houston realistically sniff around star player trades?

If they get a strong showing from their young nucleus this season, the summer of 2022 is probably the first time I'd start watching for Houston to more aggressively chase stars. They already have enough in the war chest to get into conversations with teams. However, as stated before, players need to look at Houston as an attractive destination again. There's significantly less benefit in trading for a star if know ahead of time that he will leave in free agency the first moment he has a chance.  The 2021-22 Rockets will need to be the picture of “young and upcoming” even if they don't win a lot of games.