Rockets A Free Agency 'Sleeping Giant'?
The Houston Rockets made some serious moves in terms of future flexibility this offseason, moving Christian Wood to the Dallas Mavericks, and buying out the albatross contract of John Wall.
And now with a host of new young talent acquired through the draft, tradeable assets, future cap space, future draft capital, and a budding star in Jalen Green, there is nowhere to go but up for the Rockets.
So what does that mean for the immediate future?
According to ESPN insider Chris Lowe on the most recent episode of The Lowe Post Podcast, general manager Rafael Stone could have them positioned as a 'sleeping giant' in the 2023 free agency period.
Said Lowe:
There just aren’t many teams that are this well set up for the future, in the whole league. Rafael Stone, the whole front office… they’ve gotten lucky in the (draft) lottery and all of that, but they have pivoted incredibly fast.
They are ready to be a cap space player as early as next summer, and they’re in a market where free agents are going to look at them. This team is now a sleeping giant in free agency, starting next summer, and could go from bad to interesting really freaking fast.
As it stands, the Rockets have around $70 million in cap space heading into that offseason, and could potentially create even more, depending on what happens with the seemingly inevitable trade of Eric Gordon this summer.
This means, if things go in the Rockets' favor, there is potential for massive star power to come to Houston next summer.
Among free agents available in 2023 include Lakes superstar LeBron James, Khris Middleton, Kyrie Irving, Kristaps Porzingis, Andrew Wiggins, Al Horford, Nikola Vucevic, Jerami Grant, Myles Turner, and Bojan Bogdanovic among many others.
And according to Lowe, Houston is a place where free agents could flock.
“This is a market where you can draw free agents," Lowe said. "Free agents will go to Houston.”
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