The Houston Rockets’ most recent 144-137 overtime victory against the undermanned Philadelphia 76ers on Monday night marked the team’s seventh consecutive victory, and their incredible 25-point comeback effort tied a franchise record.
Though Houston came away with the win, the team allowed Philadelphia’s Quentin Grimes to score a career-high 46 points in the matchup. It was evident that no one could contain the ex-Knicks draft pick for the entirety of the game, a worrisome sight for the league’s current No. 4 defensive unit (109.6 defensive rating).
Due to their clear struggle to contain a role player like Grimes despite possessing incredible perimeter stoppers, the Rockets’ general manager Rafael Stone may figure that the team’s defense still needs improvement as they continue to fight for high postseason seeding.
In fact, it’s plausible that his front office could take a major swing for the fences this summer by negotiating a deal with the Los Angeles Clippers to bring in one of the greatest defenders in league history and a two-time NBA champion, Kawhi Leonard.
In a hypothetical timeline where Stone gauges the Clippers’ asking price for Leonard, he could offer a deal consisting of Jalen Green and their pair of No. 3 overall draft picks from 2023 and 2024 Jabari Smith Jr. and Reed Sheppard along with a haul of first-round draft capital to land the two-way legend.
For a franchise recently becoming consumed by the idea of trading their prospect farm and chest of draft picks for a superstar talent, the prospective addition of Leonard to compliment the likes of rising star center Alperen Şengün along with the defensive core of Amen Thompson, Dillon Brooks and Tari Eason could make perfect sense.
Shipping a homegrown star like Green to the Clippers would surely be a tough pill to swallow for the Rockets organization, but their top brass likely wouldn’t hesitate to send him and a hefty package out for a franchise-altering player like Leonard.
As a proven first option on a title-winning team and one of the NBA’s greatest players in recent memory when healthy, the ex-San Antonio Spurs and Toronto Raptors two-time NBA Finals MVP and Defensive Player of the Year has averaged 19.0 points, 5.2 assists and 1.4 steals on a 55.1% true shooting percentage in 2024-25.
Even as he continues to age, the 33-year-old forward has remained one of the league’s best defensive talents as evidenced by a fantastic 110 defensive rating per 100 possessions this season for the Clippers, his best mark since the 2020-21 season when he was an All-Star and All-NBA First Team selection.
If paired with the likes of Thompson and Brooks, Leonard could possibly turn the West’s No. 2 seed into a defensive juggernaut and outright title favorite for the 2025-26 season.
With the hypothetical summer acquisition of the supremely skilled, yet injury-prone future Hall of Fame inductee, the Rockets could transform themselves into a fun come-up story to arguably the most fearsome collection of talent in the West next season.
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