Aside from making sure they lose enough to secure the best possible odds in the draft lottery, the final 28 games left on the Rockets schedule are meaningless. That makes Thursday’s trade deadline the biggest event on the calendar before the May 17 lottery.
The Rockets have plenty of interesting trade pieces, but they also drive a hard bargain. They would love to move off John Wall’s exorbitant contract, but they have placed a high value on Eric Gordon and will need to be blown away before they trade away the 26-year-old Christian Wood, who - like Gordon - is still under contract for another year.