With a significant stockpile of future draft assets and a roster that is already deep with young talent, many Rockets fans have wondered if there’s eventually going to be a trade to consolidate many of those assets. It helps that many of Houston’s marquee veteran salaries, such as John Wall, Eric Gordon, and Christian Wood, are on expiring contracts next season, which could make them useful to help match salaries in trades without giving the other team any longer-term commitments.
In comments at Monday’s end-of-season media availability, general manager Rafael Stone certainly didn’t rule such a scenario out.
“We are going to be opportunistic this summer, in this coming season, and next summer, and so on and so forth,” Stone said at Toyota Center (video). “We do think that we’re well positioned for the future.”
“If a deal becomes available that we think will make us better, we do have a lot of future assets and current ones,” Stone added. “We would be in the hunt for the deal. It takes two to tango, so it does require that the other team like the package that you put together. But we do think we can put together a lot of packages that should be pretty attractive.”
For now, the Rockets will prioritize draft analysis, since the NBA’s draft combine is in May and the offseason trade window doesn’t open until the second half of June. But if the right player is available that could fit with Houston’s rebuilding timeline and perhaps mesh well with young players like Jalen Green, expect Stone to be ready to pounce.
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