NBA Trade Rumors: In a thought exercise, we explore how many stars the Houston Rockets would be willing to break up their young core for.
The Houston Rockets are admittedly excited about their young core. Their 11-5 start to this season has only fueled it. Even after the offseason whispers, the odds that the Rockets would want to break up their young foundation are quite low. However, for the right price or offer, you'd have to imagine that the Rockets would at least explore the option of giving in. After all, the NBA is a superstar-driven league and for as good as the Rockets young core may be, I'm not sure if they have a current superstar just yet.
With news that the Rockets aren't willing to break up their young core for Giannis Antetokounmpo (whether it's actually true or not), I couldn't help but wonder what the list of stars Houston would be open to breaking up their young core for. Is there a list? There has to be a list, right? In compiling this collection of players, I tried to brainstorm what the Rockets' front office may be thinking in not wanting to break up their young core for Giannis.
Perhaps more than anything, I'd have to think that Giannis' age played a primary factor in this hypothetical. Giannis is about to turn 30 years old, so that means any star that would be in play probably has to be under the age of 30. With that in mind, here's my prediction of nine stars the Rockets would be open to breaking up their young core with a blockbuster trade.
NBA stars just on the outside looking in
To start off this list, there are a few stars that probably just finished on the outside looking in for the Houston Rockets. Of course, this list all begins with Giannis. We know that the Rockets aren't that interested in that hypothetical. In addition, based on the argument for age, you can probably include the likes of Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Joel Embiid, Anthony Davis, Nikola Jokic, and probably Jalen Brunson. Those players are most likely not on the Rockets' radar because they're either over the age of 30 or pretty close to getting there.
There are a few more players that we could probably eliminate from this hypothetical because they have many question marks and they could be viewed as too risky of a move. Those players are Devin Booker (not a clear No. 1), Ja Morant (off-the-court issues), De'Aaron Fox (not a clear No. 1), Zion Williamson (injury concerns), Lauri Markkanen (not a clear No. 1, and Evan Mobley (ceiling is unclear at this point).
One more note before we move forward with the heart of this list, it's almost important to understand that this is all hypothetical and the odds that any of these star players would hit the trade market are quite low - especially at the moment. Nevertheless, that doesn't mean it isn't fun to play this hypothetical game with the Rockets and their front office.