The Houston Rockets are looking at big moves this summer and Chandler Parsons will play a role if they trade for Kevin Love or Rajon Rondo or if the team tries to sign Carmelo Anthony as a free agent, as he has a contract issue coming up and trades with Jeremy Lin, Omer Asik and Patrick Beverley could be options for GM Daryl Morey this summer to bring in an elite player to form a Big 3 for Dwight Howard and James Harden.
Parsons has a cheap option for this coming season and he could make under $1 million, but that means he will be a free agent next year and an unrestricted one at that. Morey now has to decide whether to pick up the option or not, because the deadline is June 29 and that's before free agency and the offseason begins this summer. Parsons would be a restricted free agent if the team doesn't pick up the option and they could be at risk of losing him if they can't match the offers he gets.
Last season the Rockets went 54-28 and were one of the top half teams in the west and while that was a success and the team beat expectations after signing Howard, GM Daryl Morey knows there is a gap between Houston and the top teams like the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs. The Rockets feel that adding at least one elite player this offseason in either Kevin Love, Rajon Rondo or Carmelo Anthony will help make them into a championship contender. Anthony would be able to be an elite scorer alongside James Harden, while Rondo would be a massive upgrade over Lin.
The Kevin Love trade rumors with the Rockets have not picked up a ton of steam, but the Rockets would love, no pun intended, to pull off that deal. Daryl Morey knows that the Rockets are close and they have a limited window with the money pledged to Harden and Howard and that is why the Parsons decision is so important, as they could affect whether the team can sign one of those players or not. Parsons has turned into a great player and he was a great pick from the second round and Morey does not want to give up that value no matter what.
A trade last season broke down between the Celtics and the Rockets because Morey did not want to put Parsons in and that could be another decision he has to make again. Last season teams did not want to take Asik and his money without Parsons, but now that Asik is in the last year of his deal and has an expiring contract, it could help sway some teams. Lin is also in the last year of his deal and he could be traded as well. Last season the Rockets ranked 23rd in defense by points per game and second in scoring and they need to get those two closer together now. The team was handled by the Blazers in the first round and they lost the previous year to the Thunder and now they need to try and get good enough to advance.