NBA Rumors: Rockets Considering Trade Of Young Scoring Star

The Houston Rockets are coming off their third straight season of finishing with at least a share of the worst record in the Western Conference. They started to address the future this month by firing head coach Stephen Silas and bringing in disciplinarian Ime Udoka. 

Could the next move be to ship former No. 2 overall pick Jalen Green out of town? 

The Houston Rockets have addressed the idea of packaging Jalen Green in a potential trade for a star, per @JakeLFischer pic.twitter.com/9L4fKDUQNy

— NBACentral (@TheNBACentral) April 28, 2023

According to Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report, the Rockets are considering all possibilities this summer, including dealing away the offensively dynamic—but defensively challenged—Green.

During their interviews with coaching hopefuls this month, Houston had been openly discussing the direction of acquiring proven veteran All-Stars to add to the roster. 

"The Rockets, sources said, also addressed the idea of including second-year guard Jalen Green, the No. 2 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, as part of a package for acquiring established star talent," added Fischer.

In his two seasons in the NBA, Green has a 32-111 record, while the Rockets actually performed much better without the offense-first guard in the lineup, going 10-11 in Jalen-less games over that span. Green finished only a fraction of a tick behind Anfernee Simons for the worst defensive rating in the NBA this season, at 122.5 (to Simons' 122.6), after finishing absolute dead-last in that category last year.

Udoka will likely be given a say in personnel decisions this summer, and we know that he's a defense- and discipline-first kind of coach. A player like Jalen Green should definitely be put on notice.

Photo: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports