The Houston Rockets are fun, aren’t they? They’re young! (For the most part.) They’re defensive minded! (For the most part.) They have a good coach! (In basketball-specific ways.) Last year’s season saw them close to the playoffs for the first time in a long time. This year they leapt all the way to the second seed.
Sure. Yeah. True. They’re losing the series. And they had to play Playoff Jimmy and Steph Curry in the first round. And Jalen Green. He is not consistent. It’s just been a wild ride against some very, very unfortunate competition. The Warriors are not much of a reward for the second-best season in the Western Conference.
The Rockets are good. They have not lost. They could still win the championship, technically! But even though their season is on the line in a game tonight, the front office has to look ahead. The Rockets are a good young team with the assets to make one of the best trade packages in the trade market.
As their focus shifts, and the broader NBA focus starts shifting, to asset management, the Rockets have made one thing clear.
Amen Thompson is not on the table
Don’t believe me? Look at Evan. Evan has never lied to me. Well, to my knowledge, anyway. We’ve never spoken, now that I think about it.
It doesn’t matter what kind of table you have; it doesn’t matter which other things are on your table. Over here? On the Houston Rockets’ table? You might notice something, goat. There’s no Amen Thompson on it. Not a bit. Amen Thompson isn’t even near the warehouse in which we’re filming this staged table-based interaction. The Rockets are not open to trading Amen Thompson. Fin.
Per ESPN's Tim McMahon: "A blockbuster trade would require the Rockets to give up some of that young talent, although Houston has made it known to other front offices that Thompson is considered untouchable."
They still might have enough to get a deal done. Maybe Jalen Green will show something for the rest of the postseason. Maybe Jabari Smith Jr. hits six 3s in a game somehow. They have players good enough to make up a two-seed, a few future draft picks to work with, and multiple players on movable salaries. They have so much. They just don’t have a number one. A star.
You can’t help but think of Giannis in circumstances like this, but unfortunately with Amen off that table we were discussing earlier, those talks pretty much aren’t going to happen. But if Giannis is on the market, suddenly the price for KD probably drops a bit.
It’s worth thinking about, anyway.
So hey! Houston! You should have Amen for a while! I’m happy for you! I have his twin on my favorite team, and it’s great! And Hakeem Olajuwon was my first favorite NBA player! We should be friends!