NBA Trade Rumors: 3 deadline deals to help the Houston Rockets clean house

Reports are that Victor Oladipo is very interested in going to the Miami Heat and they could probably make an offer that is a lot more intriguing than this one. The problem is that it’s also been reported that the Heat aren’t really interested in Oladipo. And, in general, his struggles this season and unwillingness to sign an extension in Houston reduce the Rockets’ leverage. Any team that is truly interested in Oladipo as a long-term piece could simply wait until he enters free-agency this offseason.

However, the Knicks are one of those teams that have been persistently linked to Oladipo and as a veteran with defensive upside, he makes sense for Tom Thibodeau. Here, the Rockets get what is likely to be the first pick of the second round of the draft as well as two young players with potential who have struggled to get their footing in New York. The ceiling for Knox and Ntilikina at this point is probably solid rotation player and they’re both still a ways from that but this deal gives Houston a decent draft asset, a couple of rolls of the dice and lets them maintain all their financial flexibility if they don’t like what they get from Ntilikina and Knox.