Why The Houston Rockets Do The Deal

Let’s start with what the Houston Rockets wouldn’t include in a deal for Donovan Mitchell.

They can’t include soon-to-be-sophomore Alperen Sengun. His unique frontcourt passing ability would be too instrumental in making a Mitchell/Green backcourt work.

Furthermore, they can’t part with Jabari Smith Jr. Having just selected him with the third overall pick, he’s simply too valuable. Including him only works if they’re keeping all their draft capital, which is unlikely to appeal to the Jazz.

We wouldn’t even include 17th pick Tari Eason. The Rockets had the 29th Defensive Rating in the NBA last year – they obviously drafted two defensive wings for a reason.

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With that said, Porter Jr. is obviously expendable if the team is bringing in Mitchell. Moreover, the Rockets will be pivoting away from their rebuild following this deal. With that in mind, they can afford the draft capital.

After all, with the addition of Mitchell, they’ll be too talented to land in the lottery again anyway.