The Houston Rockets are rebuilding and are one of the youngest teams in the league. It should be no surprise to see them begin the 2021-22 NBA season 10-26 because expectations for them were very low entering the year.
As a result of trading James Harden last season, Houston was forced to abruptly rebuild, but this is something that has been on the horizon for a while. They have slowly been gathering young assets to prepare themselves for a rebuild and now, they actually find themselves in a good position.
While the only thing they are in contention for is the No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, there’s a lot to like about this young group in Houston. Jalen Green, Jae’Sean Tate and Kevin Porter Jr. all look like relatively young talents this team can build around for the foreseeable future, as does 26-year-old big man Christian Wood.
The Rockets took a chance on Wood last year, signing him to a three-year, $41M deal, and he delivered big-time for them. Last season, Christian Wood averaged 21.0 points, 9.6 rebounds, 1.2 blocks and shot 51.4% from the floor, 37.4% from three-point range.
LATEST NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Rockets Expected To Entertain Christian Wood Trade Offers
Christian Wood emerged as one of the most improved players in the entire league last season and now this year, while his numbers have declined slightly, he is still a high-level big man on a very affordable contract.
He is only set to make $13.7M this season and then $14.3M next season, making Wood one of the most valuable players in the entire league given his contract worth and what he does on the floor.
There’s added recent context to take into consideration, too. Wood was called out by Rockets assistant coach John Lucas for his lack of effort during their 124-111 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Saturday. After getting called out, Wood refused to take the floor for the second half of the game.
LATEST NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Rockets Expected To Entertain Christian Wood Trade Offers
With only one year left on his contract after this year, the Rockets are going to have to scramble to try and keep him against other competitive teams in the NBA and having other young players eligible for contract extensions, the Rockets could suddenly run into a cap problem.
If the incident with Wood has been a build up of recent behavior or tension, perhaps that’s added reason to engage in a deal. With that being said, let’s take a look at three teams who could target the big man in a deal ahead of the NBA trade deadline.
