3 teams that built for future at 2021 NBA Trade Deadline
3. Houston Rockets
Sure, the Houston Rockets are doing a crappy job in terms of their actual roster, but there’s no denying their eyes have been set on the future ever since James Harden forced his way out of H-Town. It’s no surprise either; this is a team that’s seen Harden, Russell Westbrook, Mike D’Antoni and Darly Morey all skip town within the last year, and the new roster built around John Wall, Victor Oladipo and the injured Christian Wood recently lost 20 games in a row.
At the deadline, then, it was imperative to get some kind of value for Oladipo before he skipped town in the offseason as a free agent. The Rockets only managed Avery Bradley (a veteran with a $5.9 million team option for next season who serves no purpose on this team), Kelly Olynyk (an impending free agent) and the right to swap draft picks with the Miami Heat in 2022.
That means, in terms of actual players, the Rockets’ biggest returns from the Harden trade will amount to Bradley, Olynyk and Dante Exum. Why the hell didn’t they just keep Caris LeVert and Jarrett Allen again?
Even so, as terrible as that Harden deal looks with each passing day, we can’t deny the Rockets are building for the future. After the Harden, Oladipo and P.J. Tucker trades, their list of incoming draft assets over the next few years includes:
- Right to swap any one of its 2021 first-round picks with Brooklyn Nets
- First-round pick from Detroit Pistons (protected 1-16 in 2021, 1-16 in 2022, 1-18 in 2023, 1-18 in 2024, 1-13 in 2025, 1-11 in 2026 and 1-9 in 2027)
- Right to swap its 2021 second-round pick for the Milwaukee Bucks’ first-rounder
- Lottery-protected 2021 first-round pick from Portland Trail Blazers
- 2022 first-round pick from Brooklyn
- Right to swap 2022 first-round picks with Miami
- Right to swap 2023 first-round picks with Brooklyn
- 2023 first-round pick from Milwaukee
- First-round pick from Washington Wizards (lottery-protected in 2023, 1-12 in 2024, 1-10 in 2025 and 1-8 in 2026)
- 2024 first-round pick from Brooklyn
- Right to swap its 2025 first-round pick or Oklahoma City Thunder’s first-round pick with Brooklyn’s after OKC chooses on its own swap rights with Houston (top-10 protected) or the LA Clippers’ pick
- 2026 first-round pick from Brooklyn
- Right to swap 2027 first-round picks with Brooklyn
That’s a lot of draft capital, and those are only the first-rounders. It will fall on Rafael Stone to actually turn those picks into productive players, because right now, he’s got a lot of holes to fill in a foundation made of Swiss cheese.