Houston Rockets Rumors: How an Anthony Davis trade affects the team

Anthony Davis wants out of New Orleans and he’ll have no shortage of suitors. Here’s how a potential deal would affect the Houston Rockets.

Interesting news struck the Houston Rockets and the rest of the NBA world Monday morning when a report surfaced that Anthony Davis had officially requested to be traded from the New Orleans Pelicans. While not entirely shocking as AD is a top player and the Pelicans are not a top team, this was still an unexpected announcement.

The Pelicans have tried and failed countless times to try to add a competent squad around Davis. Jrue Holiday has developed into an All-Star now that he is healthy but Demarcus Cousins, Rajon Rondo, and Elfrid Payton (amongst others) didn’t pan out in making this team a contender. They’ve also traded picks away and prospects who have turned out well like Buddy Hield.

All of that is not a successful formula in building a contender, even with a top three player like Davis as he can only do so much. Now, it seems Davis has finally had enough and requested a trade. It didn’t sit particularly well with his teammates even though he said he did want to wait to be traded until the offseason.

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By requesting a trade, Davis is standing by the comments he has previously made about valuing legacy over money. Davis is soon eligible for a super-max extension worth about $240 million. He can only receive that if he remains a member of the Pelicans so by requesting a trade he is forfeiting a lot of money. But, chasing championships could definitely be worth that money.

Naturally, in today’s sports betting world, odds were immediately put out about who Davis might be playing for in the future. The Houston Rockets were on some boards, though as a long shot. The favorites were obviously the Lakers and Celtics with the Knicks and 76ers not too far behind.

Any potential Anthony Davis trade, whether it is to the Rockets or not (very likely not), will have a tremendous impact on this Houston Rockets team. On one side of the coin, a divisional foe gets weaker in the present which could help the team make a stronger push towards the playoffs this year and beyond, depending on when he is traded.

On the other side of the coin, he’s likely to go to a contender and thus one of the Houston Rockets chief competitors. Davis on the Pelicans makes for several challenging games in a season but not much beyond that. Davis on a true contender could create a lot of problems in the playoffs so, this definitely seems like any potential trade will have a negative impact on the Rockets.

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The Lakers would likely create the largest amount of problems for the Houston Rockets if they were able to land Davis, which seems very likely. LeBron James has an affinity for Davis and the Lakers have the young, playable assets, like Josh Hart, Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, and Kyle Kuzma, to make a deal happen.

The Lakers are already a threat because of that young core and any team with LeBron at the helm is a threat. Adding a stud center like Davis could only exacerbate this problem. Davis literally does it all. He can shoot threes, score in the paint, rebound, block shots, and much, much more.

Having Davis on the Celtics or Sixers would obviously create problems as well but the Houston Rockets wouldn’t have to play them as often. Additionally, the Rockets wouldn’t run into them in the playoffs until the Finals, which, would obviously be a problem but both sides would have to get there first.

Regardless, potentially having Davis on another team, especially in the Western Conference, is not good news for the Houston Rockets. Davis poses matchup problems for any team but pair him with say, LeBron, and he becomes an even scarier opponent.

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If Davis is ultimately traded, whether it is this season or in the offseason, it will be interesting to see how Daryl Morey and the Houston Rockets respond. Who do they look to add in order to mitigate any advantage their opponents may gain.

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