“Is this just not our year?”
These are never the words that an NBA fan wants to hear from their general manager. If a team is rebuilding, it goes without saying. If they’re competitive, it’s a brutal concession.
Yet, those were the words that came out of Rafael Stone’s mouth as the 2025-26 NBA trade deadline approached. The Houston Rockets were waving the white flag. That was confirmed when the deadline passed, and they did precisely nothing.
Was that the wrong move?
Rockets smart to hold at deadline
One frustrating quality a lot of
fans share is that they seemingly rely on their team to bring them joy in their lives. They need the dopamine rush that comes with the notification: The Houston Rockets have acquired…
When they don’t get it, they’re mad. How could Rafael Stone just sit on his hands? Why did we acquire Kevin Durant if we’re not making a title push? How am I supposed to find the will to live if Coby White isn’t on this roster?
Here’s the problem: White was traded for Collin Sexton, Ousmane Dieng, and three future second-round draft picks. Ayo Dosunmu? Rob Dillingham, Leonard Miller, and four second-round draft picks. Personally, I wanted the Rockets to get Jose Alvarado, but it feels like the Pelicans willingly sent him to his hometown New York Knicks.
That worked out pretty well for him.
You may be thinking: Sure, but the Rockets could have beaten either the White or Dosunmu packages. That is correct. They could have rendered those deals laughable.
They could have traded Alperen Sengun, and/or Amen Thompson for them.
Too much? Agreed. Do me a favor. Load up the trade machine, and identify the package the Rockets could have offered that was more than either the White or Dosunmu package, but less than “too much”.
Exactly.
The Rockets have a rich team’s problem: They (almost) only have premium assets. Houston has enough second-round draft capital to acquire a rotation player, but excluding Alvarado, both of the needle-moving guards that got moved at last year’s deadline fetched more than, say, Dorian Finney-Smith and all the second-round picks the Rockets could legally move.
Seriously. Is Finney-Smith and seven second-rounders (the most Houston can move) a better package than Sexton, Dieng, and four second-rounders? I’d rather take the flyer on Dieng.
Imagine this. Your friend has a Pokémon card (why not?) that he’s looking to sell. It’s worth $25. Your other friend is willing to give him $30 dollars for it, because he really wants it (because you are children, presumably). You also want it, but you only have $100 bills (because you are rich children, apparently), and about ten bucks in change. Do you want it badly enough to fork over $100?
You have enough for the card: In fact, you have too much for the card. That’s Stone’s issue:
So what’s the solution?
Rockets need to stay the course
Exactly what Stone has been doing: Nothing.
The Rockets don’t have a spare player that any team is trading multiple future seconds for. They have young players with first-round value and veterans who are either too integral to the team or not worth multiple future seconds. So, diversifying their portfolio by recouping some second-round equity is out.
Overpaying shouldn’t be an option. The Rockets could have offered Finney-Smith and a future first for White or Dosunmu. They’d have still not won the NBA championship, and now they’d be contemplating whether to keep either White or Dosunmu in free agency, and they’d be down one valuable future first.
Partly, this is a hole Stone dug for himself. He flipped four second-rounders for Steven Adams. That was good. Attaching two second-round picks to Usman Garuba and TyTy Washington just to make space for a Brook Lopez that never was, was not. The Rockets also moved a pile of second-rounders for Durant, which is hard to argue with.
It feels myopic to hold Stone’s feet to the fire over the two second-rounders he wasted on Garuba et al. The reality is that Stone has (mostly) already used the bulk of his second-rounders (relatively) well.
He’s got enough left to make a move for an Isaiah Joe, or a Klay Thompson, or a Malik Monk this summer. That’s about it. Largely, the Rockets will either have to focus on upgrading their rotation through the draft, or use their premium assets to make a blockbuster deal:
Luckily, they have lots of those.
