{"id":746182,"date":"2026-05-28T12:39:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T12:39:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/746182\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T12:39:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T12:39:17","slug":"rockets-viewed-as-third-best-landing-spot-for-star-cavaliers-guard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/746182\/","title":{"rendered":"Rockets viewed as third-best landing spot for star Cavaliers guard"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Houston Rockets<\/a> have been linked to plenty of stars in the offseason trade market as of late, with Donovan Mitchell<\/a> one of them.<\/p>\n

The star Cavaliers<\/a> guard has already made it clear that he wants to stay in Cleveland<\/a>, but after the Cavs were swept in the Eastern Conference Finals by the New York Knicks<\/a>, the franchise could opt to hit the reset button. Should he become available, Mitchell would be an interesting trade target for the Rockets.<\/p>\n

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Donovan Mitchell in Houston<\/p>\n

The Rockets were listed as the third-best landing spot for Mitchell in a recent article<\/a> by Bleacher Report’s Greg Swartz, only behind the Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a> and the San Antonio Spurs<\/a>. The Philadelphia 76ers<\/a> and the New Orleans Pelicans<\/a> were the fourth and fifth-ranked teams, respectively.<\/p>\n

Swartz wrote that the Rockets would be a “strong trade partner” for the Cavs, describing Houston as a team that’s “perhaps one piece away from contending for a title.”<\/p>\n

In the mock trade to get Mitchell, Swartz had the Rockets sending out Jabari Smith Jr.<\/a>, Reed Sheppard<\/a>, Dorian Finney-Smith<\/a>, and a 2027 first-round pick via the Phoenix Suns<\/a> to Cleveland in exchange for the 29-year-old guard. That would leave Houston with a starting five of Fred VanVleet<\/a>, Mitchell, Amen Thompson<\/a>, Kevin Durant<\/a> and Alperen \u015eeng\u00fcn.<\/p>\n

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Add in Tari Eason<\/a> (assuming Houston retains him in restricted free agency) and Steven Adams<\/a> off the bench, and the Rockets would have a top-seven that “could challenge even the best in the West,” according to Swartz.<\/p>\n

Houston is at a similar crossroads to Cleveland in the current stage of their team-building, so it’s unclear whether the Rockets would be willing to go star-hunting for a second straight offseason after this year’s early playoff exit. Still, Mitchell is coming off an All-NBA season where he averaged 27.9 points and 5.7 assists per game, so it could be a worthwhile gamble for Houston if it decides to buy in on its young core.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Rockets Wire: Rockets listed as third-best landing spot for star Cavaliers guard<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Houston Rockets have been linked to plenty of stars in the offseason trade market as of late,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":746183,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3794],"tags":[883,7,6796,306,305,864,374,866,6250,292,194,4066,2497,938,6,470,191,179,207,472,1081,211,474,962,873],"class_list":["post-746182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston-rockets","tag-amen-thompson","tag-basketball","tag-bleacher-report","tag-cavaliers","tag-cleveland","tag-donovan-mitchell","tag-dorian-finney-smith","tag-fred-vanvleet","tag-greg-swartz","tag-houston","tag-houston-rockets","tag-houstonrockets","tag-jabari-smith-jr","tag-kevin-durant","tag-nba","tag-new-orleans-pelicans","tag-new-york-knicks","tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","tag-philadelphia-76ers","tag-phoenix-suns","tag-reed-sheppard","tag-rockets","tag-san-antonio-spurs","tag-steven-adams","tag-tari-eason"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116652249174334795","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746182","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=746182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746182\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/746183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=746182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=746182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=746182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}