Why this trade makes sense for the Houston Rockets:

With the Rockets trading away James Harden, they are in no position to contend for a championship, let alone make the playoffs in a loaded Western Conference. John Wall and Victor Oladipo can help ease the pain of the rebuild in Houston, but at the end of the day, without Harden, this team is virtually nothing.

As a result, why keep PJ Tucker on an expiring contract when you can leverage him and get some young talent, as well as future talent? If the Rockets decide to move on from their veteran players like Tucker, the Lakers could end up being a prime destination for him.

What the Rockets get out of this trade is actually quite valuable as Kyle Kuzma seems to get a lot of unnecessary hate from NBA fans on social media. Kuzma is a really solid young player and still has plenty of room to grow. While he would probably rather be a part of a championship caliber team, Kuzma could see his career take off, no pun intended, with the Rockets.

Kyle Kuzma and Alex Caruso are two key role players the Rockets could utilize in their efforts to speed up their rebuild. A potential starting lineup of John Wall, Victor Oladipo, Eric Gordon, Kyle Kuzma and Christian Wood is not bad at all, assuming all of them can remain healthy. 

At this point, the Houston Rockets need to realize that they have no shot at keeping this team as a playoff contender and as a result, need to do everything they can to gain assets now to build for the future. Tucker is turning 36 years old this season and with him in the back-half of his career, they might as well try and get some young talent with a lot of promise moving forward.