When news recently leaked of interest by the Rockets in trading for Orlando forward Aaron Gordon, immediate speculation on the deal centered on Houston’s treasure trove of future first-round draft picks — and which could be made available by general manager Rafael Stone.
However, there might be a way that Houston could acquire Gordon from the Magic before the NBA’s upcoming March 25 trade deadline without giving up much, if any, of that draft capital.
Per Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report, the Rockets would like to take whatever assets they get for trading Victor Oladipo and turn those into Gordon. It would be a similar template to when they flipped Brooklyn’s Caris LeVert to Indiana as an offshoot of the blockbuster James Harden trade, which is how Houston ended up with Oladipo in the first place.
Since Orlando (13-26) has lost eight straight games and clearly isn’t a contender this season, it’s doubtful that they would have interest in Oladipo, themselves. However, in a trade arrangement with three or more teams, they could potentially have interest in whatever assets the Rockets land from another team for Oladipo. Fischer explains:
Some lead members of New Orleans’ front office are also quite high on Gordon, sources said, but it’s Houston that appears particularly motivated to land him. In several conversations before the Rockets moved Harden, sources said Houston asked interested teams to engage Orlando as a means for the Rockets to ultimately net Gordon, similar to how they ended up acquiring Victor Oladipo.
That same line of thinking now seems to be taking place in Houston’s early talks gauging Oladipo’s own trade value. “Whatever happens with this Oladipo situation, they want to turn into Aaron Gordon,” one person with knowledge of the situation said.
The Rockets (11-26) entered Monday in a major slump, having lost 16 straight games, which has diminished any chance of a playoff run this season. Thus, the incentive to keep Oladipo — who is on an expiring contract — and risk him leaving for no compensation in offseason free agency appears to be far less than earlier in the season, since the team’s record inherently makes the 2020-21 season less of a priority.
Gordon, on the other hand, is three years younger (25) than Oladipo, and he’s also under contract for 2021-22. Thus, he appears to be a better fit for Houston’s current situation. While the athletic 6-foot-8 forward missed several weeks this season with a severely sprained left ankle, he did resume playing for the Magic out of the recent All-Star break.
For Houston, Gordon would start next to Christian Wood — who happens to be the same age — in a young and uber-athletic frontcourt. Gordon is averaging 13.6 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 4.0 assists in 28.3 minutes this season, and he’s shooting a career-high 36.5% on 3-pointers.
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