The Houston Rockets want a Rajon Rondo trade to create a Big 3 with Dwight Howard and James Harden after Chandler Parsons left as a restricted free agent to the Dallas Mavericks and now GM Daryl Morey will look at that deal along with a Kevin Love trade according to Marc Stein at ESPN, as he is hoping to put together a trio of stars to compete for a title in the western conference.
The Rockets have long been interested in trading for Rondo and now that Parsons has left on a deal that Houston didn't want to match, they have a bit more flexibility to work with. According to Marc Stein from ESPN, the Rockets now have the future cap flexibility with Parsons, Omer Asik and Jeremy Lin gone and that could enable the team to look at a potential deal for Rajon Rondo or they could pick up again on the Kevin Love trade talks.
Stein writes that the Rockets have long been looking at Rondo as a trade target and last season they engaged Boston about a deal, but the team wouldn't take Omer Asik without Chandler Parsons. Looking back now Morey should have pulled that off, but now he has the chance to rework it again and while the Celtics are not actively shopping Rondo, the right deal could make it happen. SB Nation writes that Green is a likely option to move with Rondo if a trade goes down and Houston likely would have to give up first rounders as well.
Parsons signed an offer sheet from the Mavericks that the Rockets did not want to match at that price and now Morey has to find a way to make up for that production. Parsons was an integral part of the Rockets offense last season and he had a career year and while Morey did not want him to go after drafting and developing him as a second round pick, he really did not have much of a choice at that price. The team wanted to maintain flexibility moving forward and that was the best way to do it and now it could open up trade options for the Rockets, including with Rondo and Love.
The Rockets come into the offseason after getting upset in the first round of the playoffs and that led the team to aim high in free agency and that did not work out either. The team moves Jeremy Lin and Omer Asik and their huge contracts off the books and while that was a very wise move, it did not lead to any free agent deals, at least major ones. The team went hard at Carmelo Anthony and put him up on the big board in Lin's number, but all that pomp didn't work and they nearly had Chris Bosh as well.
Bosh said he was close to signing with the team and then opted to sign with the Heat and that left the Rockets without a major free agent and it also led to the loss of Parsons, which obviously was okay with Morey. The Rockets now have the chance to make a move in the offseason and that could be big heading into next year and the playoffs.
