Why you shouldn’t expect trade deadline fireworks
Recently, the The Houston Rockets were into the rumor mill, with some wondering if the team will look to extend the trade deadline after recently losing Steven Adams for the year to an ankle injury. In fact, some have even brought up the possibility of the Rockets playing for Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpoor for smaller names like Kobe White of the Chicago Bulls.
Recently, however, NBA insider Brett Siegel of ClutchPoint pumped the brakes about that speculation for now.
“Amidst rumors of the Bulls being interested in keeping Kobe White and potentially looking to move Dorian Finney-Smith before the trade deadline, the Houston Rockets are happy with their roster as it is,” Siegel said.
“…The Rockets will only look for player moves that involve minimum contracts,” he added.
The Rockets don’t have a lot of financial flexibility heading into the trade deadline, so making deals involving large amounts of salary would be a tall order for the front office.
However, Kelly Ico of Yahoo Sports reported it “Houston is also open to being a facilitator as a third team in larger deals involving other teams.”
Houston would certainly like to add a little more depth in the frontcourt after Adams’ injury, which threatened to threaten arguably the Rockets’ biggest strength, their offensive rebounding. Some fans are also calling for Houston to try to land a true point guard before the deadline.
That role was supposed to be taken over by Fred VanVleet, but the veteran guard was unfortunately injured before the start of the year, and the prospect of him playing this season doesn’t necessarily look like that.
However, even as currently constructed, the Rockets have a lot of firepower, led by Kevin Durant, and they also have a lot of young talent with room to grow.
Either way, the NBA trade deadline is set for Thursday afternoon at 3:00 PM ET. Meanwhile, the Rockets will next take the floor on Wednesday night at home against the Boston Celtics.
2026-02-04 18:35:00
