Rockets Considered Dark Horse Team to Land Giannis Antetokounmpo This Season

The Houston Rockets are known to be star-gazers.

(If that's a word).

Historically, they've been successful at acquiring Hall of Fame worthy players.

And certainly All-Star players. Just look at the names.

Clyde Drexler, Charles Barkley, Scottie Pippen, Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant, James Harden (although he wasn't a sure thing at the time), Carmelo Anthony, Tracy McGrady, John Wall.

They've amassed an impressive list.

Even though some of the players were acquired at the tail end of their careers.

They'll go after anyone.

They took a shot at getting a free agent visit with Chris Bosh, Amar'e Stoudemire and even LeBron James.

They've ramped up their star hunting efforts in recent years.

It landed them Kevin Durant, who inked a $90 million deal over two years almost immediately after the trade was executed.

The Rockets may not be done shooting their shot at superstars.

Sure, they've passed on Trae Young, James Harden and Ja Morant.

But they're the most likely dark horse team to spin the block once more at Milwaukee Bucks superstar forward Giannis Antetokounmpo.

At least according to Matt Moore of the Action Network.

"Giannis stays through the deadline, gets traded this summer, everyone’s treating it like a fait accompli at this point, but of course some team could offer something crazy to change that and accelerate things.

That team would most likely be Houston."

The Rockets heavily pursued Antetokounmpo in recent years, much like they pursued Joel Embiid, Paul George and Devin Booker.

Antetokounmpo and the Bucks have been down this road before.

In fact, they seemingly arrive at this junction every year.

Every summer, at least.

Antetokounmpo has continually applied pressure on the organization with extensions looming, and it's led to the team trading for superstars to surround him with, increasing the likelihood of him winning a title.

At least competing for one.

The Bucks have traded for Jrue Holiday, which helped Antetokounmpo lead the franchise to their second championship in 2021.

They later traded for Damian Lillard, but the pairing wasn't nearly as successful.

The two were together for just two seasons, which culminated in first-round postseason exits in consecutive years.

The Bucks find themselves 17-22 and out of contention for the play-in tournament.

The team has made moves to land Kyle Kuzma and Myles Turner in recent years, but they haven't had as much of an impact.

Could the Rockets position themselves for a deal with the Bucks?