{"id":543765,"date":"2026-01-18T00:16:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T00:16:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/543765\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T00:16:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T00:16:14","slug":"why-rockets-are-steering-clear-of-these-star-guard-trades","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/543765\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Rockets Are Steering Clear Of These Star Guard Trades"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Houston Rockets don\u2019t have a starting point guard. Well, they do \u2013 2019 championship veteran Fred VanVleet<\/a>. But he can\u2019t exactly take point while sitting out the season with injury. So the team doesn\u2019t have a starting point guard they can actually play. Unsurprisingly, Houston\u2019s offense seems to be suffering as a result. Now, according to Yahoo Sports\u2019 Kelly Iko<\/a>, the Rockets are dismissing trading for any of the league\u2019s available star guards before the deadline. Is it as crazy as it sounds?<\/p>\n

Why Rockets Are Steering Clear Of These Star Guard Trades<\/p>\n

The Rockets secured a much-needed win against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night<\/a>, 110-105, lifting them out of their recent struggles. Over the last 10 games<\/a>, the Rockets have a bottom-10 offensive rating and are 5-5. Their three-point percentage in that span has been 28.8%, second-worst<\/a> in the league.<\/p>\n

Beating the Wolves hardly swept any of the Rockets\u2019 issues under the rug. The Rockets finally shot well, but on low volume\u2014just 12 of 28 from three, with 6 of those makes by Kevin Durant<\/a>. On top of that, the Minnesotans were without star Anthony Edwards<\/a>. The Rockets still needed every bit of an efficient 39 from the 37-year-old Durant<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Houston needs ways to generate offense more easily. Having Alperen Sengun<\/a> back in the lineup certainly helps. Maybe experimenting with some small-ball<\/a> lineups and better spacing could help as well. A real point guard would help even more. Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade<\/a> had a suggestion on Amazon Prime. He thinks the team should go get future Hall of Famer Chris Paul<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Does Chris Paul Count?<\/p>\n

Paul still hasn\u2019t played a game since he was \u201csent home\u201d by the Los Angeles Clippers in December. Across the league, the move was widely panned as classless. Paul is the greatest Clipper of all time, whatever that might be worth. He\u2019d already announced a retirement tour with the franchise. His message of accountability seemed relevant for one of the worst transition defenses in the league.<\/p>\n

But the Clippers have actually turned their season around since Paul\u2019s departure. Of course, that probably doesn\u2019t have much to do with Paul being a little annoying. Kawhi Leonard<\/a> has simply been enjoying his annual stint as a top-ten player in the NBA.<\/p>\n

But, crucially, Paul just isn\u2019t a significant difference-maker at this point in his career. His pass-first mentality encourages teams not to really bother guarding him. Size and age limit him considerably on defense. Over 16 games in 2025-26, he averaged just 2.9 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 3.3 assists on 32.1% from the field and 33.3% from three.<\/p>\n

Point God Ex Machina isn\u2019t going to right Houston\u2019s rocket ship. A constellation of available star guards is on the radar, though. Houston just doesn\u2019t seem interested in stopping there as it sputters on towards the February 5th trade deadline.<\/p>\n

The Star Guards the Rockets Could Trade For<\/p>\n

Ja Morant<\/a>, LaMelo Ball<\/a>, and Darius Garland<\/a> all have their own issues. They wouldn\u2019t be loosely considered \u201cavailable\u201d if they didn\u2019t. The biggest one they share is health.<\/p>\n

Since Morant\u2019s last All-Star season in 2022-23, he simply hasn\u2019t been able to stay on the court. He played nine games in 2023-24, 50 games in 2024-25, and has already missed 21 games in 2025-26.<\/p>\n

Even when he plays, his production has lagged behind his star reputation. He\u2019s currently averaging 19.0 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 7.6 assists per game on 40.1% from the field and 20.8% from three. Houston chose to deliberately let Morant shoot<\/a> in a matchup earlier this season. Morant clearly isn\u2019t happy in Memphis, and his underperformance may be related. Teams potentially interested in acquiring him, though, see a malcontent and coaching headache. That probably includes the Rockets.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s Only One Ball (on the Hornets anyway)<\/p>\n

Speaking of coaching headaches, Ball probably fits the bill. Ball is averaging 20.4 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 7.8 assists on 41.9% from the field and 37.9% from three this season. He\u2019s an electric presence on the court and a perfect muse for the most animated commentator<\/a> in the league. His freestyling approach to offense might actually suit Houston coach Ime Udoka\u2019s laissez-faire approach to that end. The free backcuts to the rim he gives up on defense would be less favorable to Udoka.<\/p>\n

The biggest knock on Ball is still his health. From 2022-23 to 2024-25, Ball played 105 of 246 possible games. That\u2019s 42.7%. Ball\u2019s high usage (14th in the league<\/a>) when he does play makes his absences and reintegrations especially challenging. Houston might be interested if the Charlotte Hornets were desperate to move on from Ball. That desperation is yet to materialize.<\/p>\n

The Best Option In Guard Land?<\/p>\n

Garland doesn\u2019t have any reported attitudinal issues. Compared with Ball and Morant, he\u2019s been much healthier, too. This season, he\u2019s averaging 18.0 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 6.9 assists on 45.1% from the field and 36.0% from three. Garland has never been the pure scorer that Morant was at his peak. He\u2019s not the crunch-time wizard Ball has been at times, either. But Garland would seem to fit nicely as a passer, initiator, and floor spacer alongside Houston\u2019s stars, Sengun and Durant.<\/p>\n

The Rockets probably don\u2019t like what Garland would cost them. They can\u2019t trade VanVleet because of his effective no-trade clause. The Cleveland Cavaliers are also over the second apron, which makes deal-making magnitudes more difficult. Finally, there\u2019s a strong possibility that Udoka would just hate playing him. Garland has the worst defensive rating<\/a> on the Cavs. Would Udoka really yank around the former All-Star\u2019s minutes the way he does sophomore Reed Sheppard<\/a>\u2019s? Probably.<\/p>\n

The Last Word on Rockets\u2019 Star Guard Trades<\/p>\n

Udoka\u2019s entire schtick as a coach is basically that he\u2019ll bench anyone at any time if he feels they aren\u2019t playing hard enough. Managing egos is not part of the equation. Having to coach a star guard sounds like a personal nightmare for him. Unfortunately, his attempts at offensive play calling are a little nightmarish as well. Maybe the Rockets should grab Paul after all. If nothing else, he could help yell at the players for not trying hard enough and maybe teach Udoka how an NBA offense is supposed to work.<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Troy Taormina-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Houston Rockets don\u2019t have a starting point guard. Well, they do \u2013 2019 championship veteran Fred VanVleet.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":543766,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3794],"tags":[7,2596,791,292,194,4066,178,966,6,211],"class_list":{"0":"post-543765","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston-rockets","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-chris-paul","10":"tag-darius-garland","11":"tag-houston","12":"tag-houston-rockets","13":"tag-houstonrockets","14":"tag-ja-morant","15":"tag-lamelo-ball","16":"tag-nba","17":"tag-rockets"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115913227396031610","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=543765"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543765\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/543766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}