Rockets Betting on Themselves as Trade Deadline Nears

The Houston Rockets are counting down the days until the NBA trade deadline.
Jan 27, 2025; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Houston Rockets forward Dillon Brooks (9) reacts after his three point basket against the Boston Celtics in the second quarter at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images
Jan 27, 2025; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Houston Rockets forward Dillon Brooks (9) reacts after his three point basket against the Boston Celtics in the second quarter at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images / David Butler II-Imagn Images
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The Houston Rockets are just over a week away from the NBA Trade Deadline, and many are pegging them as the next team to make that big deal for a superstar player.

The Rockets are currently in second place in the Western Conference, setting themselves up as the top team to challenge Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder in the playoffs this spring.

This could give them reason to trade for a star player now, but the Rockets appear to be "optimistically holding" to see how their roster performs in their first postseason run together.

"The Rockets knew they were on the right track last year, but the team is better than they thought they'd be this season. While the front office had set up its books for the possibility of a significant trade, it's more likely to wait until the summer for a player like De'Aaron Fox (or even Giannis Antetokounmpo) to become available," Bleacher Report analyst Eric Pincus writes. "While Jimmy Butler is a Houston native, he is too expensive and doesn't fit the team's age range."

The Rockets have been linked to Houston natives in Butler and Fox, but there isn't a move to be made that won't completely break the chemistry of this team up.

Given how sour the situation has gone for Butler with the Heat, the Rockets don't want any part of that, especially considering they will have to part with a few assets in return to make it happen.

Nothing about the Rockets is broken right now, so there is no need to fix it. That may not be the case by the end of the season if the Rockets underperform in the playoffs, but the Houston front office will get a chance to see out how this season works to see what changes need to be made in the offseason.

The Rockets will finish the first half of their road trip tomorrow night as they visit Ja Morant and the Memphis Grizzlies for the fourth and final game of the season series between the two Southwest Division rivals. Tipoff is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. CT.

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Jeremy Brener
JEREMY BRENER

Jeremy Brener is an editor, writer and social media manager who has been with On SI since 2021. Brener graduated in May 2020 from the University of Central Florida with a Bachelor's degree in Broadcast Journalism minoring in Sport Business Management. While at UCF, Brener worked for the school's newspaper NSM.today and "Hitting the Field," a student-run sports talk show and network. He was the executive producer for "Hitting the Field" from 2019-20.