Evaluating How to Upgrade the Houston Rockets to a Contender

The Houston Rockets are one of the biggest surprises of the 2024-25 NBA season, boasting the No. 2 ranking in the entire Western Conference, mostly due to its talented young core.

And with so many players and a limited amount of minutes to go around, a consolidation trade for the team would make sense. And some have reportedly been kicked around by the organization.

Instead of seeking out a specific trade target first, let’s reverse engineer how the Rockets can upgrade their roster, and build a deal from there.

As it stands now, it feels like the team has a few clearly untouchable players: new starting guard Amen Thompson, star center Alperen Sengun and the other half of the ‘Terror Twins’ in forward Tari Eason. For the purposes of this mock trade, in tandem with his shiny new contract and much-improved play of late, let’s also group shooting guard Jalen Green there as the team’s leading scorer so far on the season.

All in all, those four players make a starting front court, and a starting backcourt. Regardless of if you want the ever-versatile Eason playing the three or four, Houston could stand to upgrade with a forward.

Other key pieces include guard Fred VanVleet and wing Dillon Brooks, both of which have been pivotal to the team’s resurgence in the West, as well as young pieces in Jabari Smith Jr., Reed Sheppard and Cam Whitmore.

Some of these players will, of course, be kept in order to ensure depth on the team, which is vitally important in a tough Western conference. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that everyone is safe, either. Likely, a combination of one veteran, one young player and ancillary pieces will be added in a trade.

Now, let’s look at what specifically the team can improve on.

The Rockets rank No. 9 in the league in offensive rating, and have been climbing from the middle of the pack for some time now. While the top-10 is certainly nothing to scoff at, most contending teams need to hover around the top-five in both.

They’ve slipped ever-so-slightly two spots to No. 4 in defensive rating, but still clearly have the pieces to be a stingy defensive team. As it stands now, offensive firepower feels like the clear way to upgrade the team. More specifically, the team still ranks extremely low in shooting 3-pointers, a clear need in the modern NBA when it comes to deeper postseason runs.

So, we’ve narrowed it down to an offensive-minded three or four, while maintaining both one of the two veterans, and one of the three prospects.

There’s a variety of deals out there that could fit this bill, with varying degrees of stardom intermingled. Suns forward Kevin Durant as a former MVP and NBA champion is the best possible fit, and it was reported months ago that the team did their due diligence on him, but Phoenix wasn’t willing to play ball. It’s been widely reported that 6-foot-9 Nets’ wing Cameron Johnson is available amidst a career year, and he stands to be the cheaper, middle-ground option at the three.

Other options could include Utah’s John Collins, Golden State’s Andrew Wiggins, New Orleans’ Brandon Ingram, and more.

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