With deadline day trades sending veteran Eric Gordon to the Los Angeles Clippers and Garrison Mathews and Bruno Fernando to the Atlanta Hawks, the Houston Rockets and third-year general manager Rafael Stone further added to a stockpile of future draft assets.
The deal with Los Angeles brought in a 2023 first-round swap right for the Rockets involving the Milwaukee pick they already owned and the lesser of two picks between the Clippers and the Thunder. As it stands at the deadline, that could move up Houston from a spot in the late 20s in the first-round order to the late-10s range.
Meanwhile, the deal with Atlanta will bring in Oklahoma City’s second-round picks in both 2024 and 2025. Effectively, by taking on larger salaries, the Rockets are buying those selections.
The Rockets also continue to own first-round assets from Brooklyn through 2027, owing to the blockbuster James Harden trade from January 2021. The outlook for those picks has improved in recent weeks due to the forced departures of Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant.
Through 2029, here’s an updated year-by-year list of the Rockets’ draft picks, as of February 2023. Scroll on for further details.