The Houston Rockets have trades lined up for Omer Asik and Jeremy Lin this offseason if they can't sign Carmelo Anthony or LeBron James, while GM Daryl Morey is also eyeing a Rajon Rondo trade or Kevin Love deal if the other options in free agency fall though and that includes Kyle Lowry at point guard.
The Rockets have long been considered a major player this offseason and they are hoping to add another star next to Dwight Howard and James Harden to form their own big 3. According to ESPN.com, the team is targeting both Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James in the hopes of signing one of those players and to get enough cap space to do it they will likely need to trade both Omer Asik and Jeremy Lin. The Rockets have a ton of money tied up in those two players and moving them is a priority for the Rockets if they want to sign free agents.
The team also has Chandler Parsons and his contract to deal with and they have to decide on whether to pick up his option for next year or not. According to Yahoo Sports, the Rockets are planning on declining the option on Parsons, making him a restricted free agent in the hopes of signing him back on the market after adding one of the major stars. This move is not without risk, as the team could potentially lose Parsons to another team if he gets an offer that the team cannot afford to match. That happened with Lin and the Knicks and could play out again, this time with the shoe on the other foot for the Rockets.
The Parsons contract is an interesting situation, as the team could have him for a bargain next season if they pick it up, but that means he will be an unrestricted free agent in 2015. The team feels they have a better chance of keeping him now and they also will be looking at the Rajon Rondo trade. GM Daryl Morey has long been coveting Rondo and the two teams nearly pulled off a trade last season. The Celtics wanted Parsons if they were going to take Asik's money and that held up the deal and now the Rockets could be looking at a trade like that again.
The Rockets have to deal with the cap issues of Lin and Asik, as they will be worth $8.34 million against it next season and they have poison pill contracts of over $10 million and that will make them hard to move. The saving grace for the team is the fact that they have expiring deals and those can be valuable for teams looking to clear cap space. The summer of 2015 is a big one for free agents and clearing space for that could spark moves from teams. Lowry is a great option for the team and while he is going to command some money on the market, he could be willing to come to Houston to play with Howard and Harden. He will also be a target for the Lakers and the NY Knicks this season.
