The Houston Rockets have surprised nearly everyone this season, but they’re still one crucial piece away from true contention.
Houston entered Monday with a 46-26 record, fourth best in the NBA.
Rockets head coach Ime Udoka has the young Rockets ahead of schedule defensively, and the team plays with a ton of grit on both ends.
Houston’s main issue is crunch time. In a playoff game’s waning moments, who can the Rockets rely on to get a bucket?
Alperen Şengün is a franchise centerpiece type of player, but he’s still a bit young to shoulder the responsibility of being a go-to guy in must-win postseason games. Jalen Green has all the talent in the world, but he’s inconsistent, still young, and often has suspect shot selection.
Fred VanVleet is Houston’s default veteran shot-maker, but if he’s your primary option in crunch time, you’re not contending.
Case in point — the Rockets are widely rumored to get involved in the Kevin Durant sweepstakes this summer.
The funny thing is, Durant’s teammate on the Phoenix Suns is possibly a much better fit for what the Rockets need.
On a recent episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast, Simmons pointed out that Devin Booker would be great in Houston.
“Booker makes way more sense to me with Houston than Durant does,” Simmons said.
“Booker is exactly what they need. … If you just replace Jalen Green with Booker, it’d be like holy (expletive).”
Booker is in the prime of his career and would be extremely difficult to pry away from the Suns, but the Rockets are one of the few teams with the draft capital and young assets to make a real go at it.
Booker’s played his entire career in Phoenix and has tallied four All-Star appearances. The Suns took him with the No. 13 overall pick in the 2015 draft and have been handsomely rewarded with his play through the years, but Phoenix is due for a major reset and rebuild.
Should Booker be the centerpiece of that rebuild, or might Phoenix consider really blowing things up and going even younger?
Suns ownership has indicated that Booker is untouchable, but things can change quickly when it comes to the NBA trade market, especially if and when players request out.
Expect the Rockets to be closely monitoring the Booker situation all summer long.
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