The Houston Rockets have had an underrated offseason. Sure, they didn’t improve much on paper—which is fine for a team with so much young talent—but they secured control of the Phoenix Suns’ future draft picks.
The Rockets have been involved in trade talks with the Suns and reportedly had interest in signing either Kevin Durant or Devin Bookers. The Suns have shown no willingness or reason to part with their current Big Three, but if the time comes, the Rockets could secure one of the superstars.
John Hollinger of The Athletic went into detail about the Rockets’ offseason and explained why transfer talks between the Rockets and Suns will flare up again in the years to come.
“… the Rockets started with an unprotected first and an unprotected swap from Brooklyn and ended with two unprotected premieres from Phoenix and two “What makes this so cool for Houston is that despite their own underrated trade this summer (for Tyus Jones), the Suns are quickly heading toward doomsday. Maybe not this year, maybe not even next … but it’s imminent. Owning the Suns’ late-decade draft capital is a great deal.”
There are two categories of contenders. Some are up-and-coming teams entering the competition. Others are built around aging stars with minimal capital. The Suns fall into the latter category and will soon have to start a rebuild as their championship window closes. Durant and Bradley Beal are aging. Booker is in his 10th season. Limited resources and salary cap issues make it difficult for Phoenix to improve significantly.
However, the Rockets could bail out the Suns by signing one of their superstars in exchange for draft capital, allowing Phoenix to completely reboot the franchise. Houston has an incredibly young core and could be a regular playoff team by then, and signing a superstar could help them climb into contention.
“Counting on the return of those two picks and some other advantages to get Devin Booker and have the Suns reboot in two or three years is perhaps still an outside bet, and a lot of water will flow down the drain between now and then,” Hollinger continued.
Needless to say, Houston is in a good position here. They still have a lot of decisions to make between now and then, but a burgeoning young core, a collection of experienced talent, and an overall strengthening culture could put the Rockets in a solid position between now and then as well.
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