2021 NBA DRAFT
Owned Draft Picks: POR 2021 1st Round Pick (Pick #23), MIL 2021 1st Round Pick (Pick #24)
The Rockets finished with the worst record in the league this season, giving them a 14% chance to end up with the #1 overall pick in the draft and a 52.1% chance to end up with a Top-4 pick in the draft, but they could potentially lose their first-round pick this year.
During the 2019 offseason, the Rockets made a blockbuster trade with the OKC Thunder that involved Chris Paul and Russell Westbrook. As part of this trade, Houston gave the Thunder their first-round pick in 2021 with Top-4 protection on it.
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Now, with the 2021 NBA Draft a little over a month away, all eyes for both the Rockets and Thunder are on the draft lottery to see where Houston’s pick will end up this year. This could be a huge turning point not just in the offseason, but for the future of both of these franchises.
Houston must keep their first-round pick this year in order for them to escalate things in regards to their rebuild process, as a Top-4 pick in the draft gives them an All-Star potential prospect, but even if this pick does go to the Thunder, they still have two first-round picks at 23rd and 24th overall.
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Both of these two picks could potentially be packaged together to add an established talent to Houston’s roster, especially if they have the top pick in the draft and use that to take a guy like Cade Cunningham or Jalen Green, but they could also be used to bring in two other key rookies that the Rockets could utilize for years to come.
There are a ton of opportunities in the draft this year for the Houston Rockets to add talent, but until all of the draft positions are locked in, it is hard to say exactly what the Rockets will plan on doing. Draft night trades are definitely in the discussion for Houston, but so is keeping all three picks and potentially using them to add on to their core of the future.
