NBA Trade Rumors: Houston Rockets interested in Kent Bazemore?
NBA Trade Rumors: According to a recent report, the Houston Rockets have shown interest in Kent Bazemore, but acquiring him could be tricky
While the Houston Rockets have recovered after their rough start to the season, they’re still only three games over .500 and are sitting in the 7th spot of the Western Conference. On the bight side, they’re only four games back of the top seed.
Considering everything that this team has had to overcome this season, it could be a lot worse. With that said, it’s safe to say that the team is still trying to recover from the losses of Trevor Ariza and Luc Mbah a Moute on the defensive end.
If nothing else, you can see the toll the losses have made in terms of the team’s depth. Any one small injury hurts more, and requires their bench to step up in a bigger way. Thus, why the team has struggled more in the absence of Chris Paul this season.
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Nevertheless, it’s not surprising to see the team active in trade talks. They were in the race for Jimmy Butler, before he was ultimately traded to the Philadelphia 76ers, and are now reportedly interested in acquiring Atlanta Hawks guard Kent Bazemore.
According to a recent report from The Athletic’s Shams Charania, the Rockets have already held trade talks with the Hawks about the possibility of a trade.
Bazemore would be an ideal addition for the Rockets, and he’s have a sneaky good year for the Hawks this season. The 6-foot-5 guard is averaging a career high 14 points, four rebounds and three assists on a career best 45 percent from the field and 33 percent from 3-point range.
The big hurdle in the Rockets making this deal done is the fact that Bazemore has a $19-plus million player option for next season, and if he’s going to opt-in it could make it difficult for the Rockets to absorb.
Apart from that, the Rockets don’t really have any expiring contracts that would appease Atlanta, and their picks are essentially all second-round ones (even the firsts, due to the fact that they’re a playoff team).
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Kent Bazemore to the Rockets makes sense, but would likely need a third team in order to make it all work for all parties involved. Houston is going to make a move, it’s just a matter of for who at this point.