NBA Rumors: Rockets-KD interest, Lakers connected to Dejounte Murray, 76ers trade buzz

NBA rumors: Houston Rockets looking to trade for Kevin Durant or other big name stars

The Houston Rockets are trying to win now and may use their draft assets to get a superstar.

According to Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo of ESPN ($), the Rockets "are clearly in win-now mode and love to add star power to their roster". The franchise has "players such as Kevin Durant, Jimmy Butler, Mikal Bridges, and Brandon Ingram" on their list of targets for this offseason.

The Rockets are locked in and loaded with tons of first-round picks. While they have given their first-round picks for the next two seasons, Houston has the right (to swap or outright control) the Brooklyn Nets' first-round picks until 2028. The team was not able to make the playoffs last season despite winning 41 games.

While the squad was not a title contender Houston would probably made the playoffs in the Eastern Conference as a play-in team. The good news for the Rockets is that the franchise has the third overall pick and has plenty of young developing stars already on the squad (Jalen Green and
Alperen Şengün)

It's possible with Butler's injury in the play-in tournament that the Rockets could have made the first round of the playoffs if everyone stayed healthy in this alt-universe.

Of these veterans, it's likely that Butler will be the only one available on the market. The guard is in-going contract battle with the Miami Heat as the franchise doesn't want to offer a two-year, $113 million extension on top of the two more max contract years that he has left on his deal. As it stands, it seems likely that the Heat will end up trading Butler this offseason with the league

NBA rumors: Lakers entering trade talks for Dejounte Murray

The Los Angeles Lakers are armed with three tradable first-round picks and could use those picks to trade for a veteran ball-handler.

According to Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo of ESPN ($), the Lakers will likely "explore the trade market to see" if names like Dejounte Murray or Collin Sexton are made available for their basketball services.

Los Angeles has been unable to have a good enough ball-handler/distributor since Rajon Rondo's first run with the squad in 2020. The Lakers have been involved in trade talks for Murray and Sexton with the team rumored to go after both at the trade deadline.

Sexton is likely a lot easier to trade for as the Jazz are looking to unload his 18.7 points and 4.9 assists per game on 48% shooting from the floor.

On the other hand, Murray's basketball services will probably cost a bit more than Sexton as the guard can arguably be an All-Star-level veteran at times. Murray is coming off averages of 22.5 points, 6.4 assists, and 5.3 rebounds per game on 45.9 percent shooting from the floor. A trade for the Hawk will likely require one of Rui Hachimura or Austin Reaves in return.

NBA rumors: Sixers entering trade talks for multiple veterans

Philadelphia is looking to compete for a championship which trading their first round pick could make sense this offseason.

According to Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo of ESPN ($), the Sixers have held "only a handful of workouts" which has led teams around the league to believe that their 16th overall pick "could be on the move, depending on which player falls to No.16".

The franchise was rumored to be interested in acquiring Zach LaVine if Alex Caruso was involved. Now, that appears more unlikely, as the Bulls traded Caruso to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Josh Giddey.

While they were unable to get Caruso, Philly is locked to get one or two impact veterans as the squad has tradable picks and possibly $65 million in cap space if they renounce the cap hold on their free agents. With no hints around the league, it's hard to predict who the Sixers will end up trading for, but it can be assumed that they will be very aggressive in the trade market.

It will be interesting to see who the Sixers can get this offseason. But it sounds like they are open for business for a team interested in the No. 16 pick if that team has a veteran player they are targeting.