Does this trade make sense for the Houston Rockets?
Houston has made it very clear that they have no intentions of trading Christian Wood at the moment and are simply interested in hearing out other teams and what they are offering. This should not imply that there is a chance that the team will trade Wood ahead of the trade deadline this season.
Many front-offices and executives across the league hear out offers that they will in no way accept simply because it gives them an idea of what their team is looking like. If one player is receiving a bunch of interest and getting high-value trade proposals, maybe this increases the value of other players around the league that they may be targeting or even those on their current roster!
Listening to offers for Christian Wood could simply be a tactic by the Houston Rockets’ front office to get a gauge on what teams are going to be interested in him when he hits free agency following next season.
The Rockets would like to keep Christian Wood long-term and extend him past next season, but he is expected to see a raise that would pay him over $20M annually and there are multiple teams who are said to be interested in offering him this kind of contract.
LATEST NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Rockets Expected To Entertain Christian Wood Trade Offers
By knowing who is going to be interested in Wood ahead of time, the Rockets can prepare themselves to be in the best position possible to retain their big man when he becomes an unrestricted free agent.
The Houston Rockets are not going to be trading Christian Wood this season and while this offer from Minnesota gives them some young pieces that could be valuable to their core, this is simply not enough value for the Rockets to give up their best player for.