Charles Barkley Recommends Rockets to Trade for Chris Paul

Would he help?

Dec 13, 2025; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Chris Paul watches during the Emirates NBA Cup semifinals game between the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

On Wednesday night, the Rockets blew a 16-point lead to lose 111-99 against the San Antonio Spurs.

It was Houston's second game against the Spurs in a week.

The last matchup between the two teams led to a nail-biting 111-106 victory for Houston. In that game, the Rockets held Spurs French man Victor Wembanyama to 14 points on 5-of-21 shooting.

Naturally, Wembanyama was ready for revenge. He had 28 points, 16 rebounds, five blocks, two steals and went 8-of-15 from the field and 12-of-15 from the foul line.

The Rockets had the ball humming in the first game. In this game, they struggled to generate easy looks. They also couldn't concoct three point looks.

Legendary NBA player and former Rockets forward Charles Barkley took to ESPN's Inside the NBA to point out Houston's offensive struggles without a table-setting point guard. 

"You see the Rockets. They still haven't addressed the point guard situation because Sengun and Kevin, they're finishing, they're starting and finishing. That is too hard for them to go deep in the playoffs. They've gotta find a point guard to let those guys be just finishers, not starters."

Barkley continued. 

"When you watch the Rockets play, the one weakness that they're gonna have when they start to play against better teams. Sengun and Kevin start all their plays at the top.

They're literally going 1-on-5 every time. That's gonna work on most nights because they're better than most teams. But when they start playing against better teams, that's why they really need a point guard."

Barkley even made a recommendation. 

"I might even bring Chris Paul out. He sitting at home doing nothing. He ain't gotta do nothing but get the ball to half court. "

Chris Paul has been ruled out as a potential solution for the Rockets by Yahoo Sports' Kelly Iko, who mentioned Houston's disinterest in adding an experienced veteran floor general like Paul.

Instead, we've heard names like Jose Alvarado and Coby White, the latter of which will be difficult due to White's $12.9 million salary coupled with the Chicago Bulls' brass desire to add a young player on the same timeline as Josh Giddey.