Iko: Last exercise for you: Give me your Rockets big board for the upcoming deadline. Three players aged 25 or under who Houston should look to bring in at the margins, if the opportunity presents itself. Alternatively, give me one trade destination for each of Houston’s assets.
Hollinger: OK, that’s a broad canvas, but let me start painting here. Given the Rockets’ main target is the forward position, the first call should be to the Washington Wizards. Washington’s last three first-round picks have been big forwards — Rui Hachimura, Deni Avdija and Corey Kispert. They also have Kyle Kuzma, who has been awesome lately, and are paying big money to Davis Bertans.
The goal for Houston would be to walk away with one of Hachimura, Avdija or Kispert. Hachimura is up for an extension this summer and has missed most of the season; I’m guessing he would be the most available of the three. He struggles with feel, and he’s only played in four games this year. However, his sheer combination of size and shooting ability offers some hope, and he’s a “young” 23 when you consider his lack of high-level basketball experience before he came to the U.S.
Would taking on Hachimura be worth turning Gordon’s contract into that of Bertans, which runs through 2024-25? Hard pass. But something like Augustin, Nwaba and the 2023 Milwaukee pick (top-14 protected) for Thomas Bryant and Hachimura would be pretty interesting.
My next call would be to the Bucks, and it would be a simple proposition: You can have your pick back if you give us Donte DiVincenzo. He’s a restricted free agent this summer, and the tax-paying Bucks are going to have a lot of trouble keeping him; the Rockets would also have to do some dancing around the luxury-tax line, but I’m assuming they can churn Gordon into a smaller 2023-24 salary, which would help them pay DiVincenzo and stay below the line even if they win the draft lottery.
I don’t see the Bucks doing this unless they have another win-now deal lined up that takes advantage of the incoming draft pick from Houston, but it’s a call worth making. DiVincenzo could move right into Gordon’s role as a sixth man who finishes games and, depending on injuries, starts them sometimes, as well.
For my third target, I would call Utah about Jared Butler. I had a lottery grade on the Jazz’s second-round pick, who has excelled in G League games and three NBA preseason games but still isn’t playing for the varsity. He’s only played 113 minutes th
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