Rafael Stone: In 2024, Rockets are more comfortable with trading draft capital for veteran players
In recent years, the Rockets explored trades involving their top first-round selections in the 2021, 2022, and 2023 NBA draft.
However, none got to the finish line, and the Rockets didn’t trade out of the first round in any of those drafts. No trades were completed, at all, involving Houston’s picks in the top 20 overall selections.
In 2024, however, the calculus could be different for general manager Rafael Stone. This year, the Rockets (41-41) are coming off a much-improved season under new head coach Ime Udoka. In each of the previous seasons, Houston had won 22 or fewer games, and trading the pick for a veteran didn’t make much sense when the team was that far away from winning at a postseason level.
But this year, should the right offer materialize, it could make sense for the Rockets to be more aggressive on the trade market.
In a new interview with The Athletic’s Kelly Iko, Stone was asked about the potential of trade talks in 2024. He replied:
I think it’s getting easier for us to be flexible. The last couple of years, it’s made a ton of sense for us to draft, because we’ve needed this infusion of young talent. It’s a little easier [now] to be more diversified in terms of pushing draft picks out, taking veteran players.
Our optionality is we always wanted to keep an open mind in case there was something that we needed to do. But because we like our current roster so much, it actually provides us with more flexibility to explore creative deals of all sorts. We weren’t foreclosing things two or three years ago, but it’s gotten easier.
Stone’s complete interview with Iko can be read here.
As of now, after a surprisingly positive result in the 2024 NBA draft lottery, Houston (via Brooklyn) is set to pick at No. 3 overall in the NBA’s June 26 first round. While the latest wave of mock drafts is projecting a range of intriguing prospects to the Rockets, it’s worth remembering that trades are very much a possibility, as well.
