Houston Rockets: Wood, Porter Jr. rebel during loss to Nuggets

Trouble for the Houston Rockets? 

During halftime of the Houston Rockets game against the Denver Nuggets on Saturday night, assistant coach John Lucas reportedly called out a number of his players, including Kevin Porter Jr. and Christian Wood.

This confrontation led to Porter Jr. leaving the arena during halftime, while Wood refused to check into the game in the final two quarters. KPJ threw an object, then quickly left the arena, leaving his team to play the second half without him.

Houston ultimately ended up losing the game by a final score of 124-111. Much of the frustration may have stemmed from the Rockets’ lack of defensive effort, as Denver scored a whopping 47 points in the second quarter alone.

Porter Jr has a history of incidents like this in the NBA, specifically when he was with the Cleveland Cavaliers. The 2019 first-round draft pick was traded away by his initial organization after only one season after the guard missed almost half the 2020-21 season due to personal reasons. He then got into a screaming match with organizational members when he was nearing a return, upset that his locker got moved midway through the season.

This led the Cavaliers to trade the promising prospect to the rebuilding Rockets, as they felt Porter’s off-the-court issues were too much to overcome. For Houston, this move made tons of sense, as they only gave up a heavily protected second-round pick. If it didn’t work out, the Rockets would essentially lose nothing – while if it did work out, H-town acquired a first-round talent for pennies on the dollar.

After a promising start to his career in Houston, averaging 16.6 points and 6.3 assists on 42.5 percent shooting, Porter Jr. has taken a step back this season, averaging only 13 points on an inefficient 36.2 percent. Still only 21 years of age, he has lots of time to grow and improve his skills, but it’s fair to say the Rockets were expecting another step in the right direction, rather than a step back.

With these off-the-court troubles appearing once again, don’t be surprised if the Rockets look to move Porter, as next year is the last of his rookie deal.

The situation with Christian Wood is also troubling. After he was benched from the starting lineup for violating a team rule, he showed no desire to play for the team in the second half, only recording eight minutes on the night. With trade rumors swirling for the talented big man, this type of behavior suggests he already has one foot out the door.

He’s also taken a step back from last season, averaging four fewer points while shooting four percentage points worse from the field. Nonetheless, Wood is still a very talented big man, who has the athleticism to both stretch the floor effectively and finish at the rim.

The 26-year-old has one more year left on his deal after the conclusion of this season, making him a very desirable trade piece for contending teams. The ability to not only trade for a rental but to have a player of Wood’s caliber for two seasons can change the entire outlook of a franchise.

Considering the potential cultural issues going on in Houston, they should seriously look into trading both of these players, along with veterans such as Eric Gordon and Daniel Theis, in exchange for any sort of assets they can utilize.

For now, the Houston Rockets should look to rid all the drama from their organization, and build around their young core, headlined by their outstanding rookie duo of Jalen Green and Alperen Sengun.