In the NBA, come mid-December questions start arising where nearly all the free agents who signed at some point during the offseason become available to trade. Although the December 15th date doesn’t apply to every team in the league, it probably becomes the most significant for the Houston Rockets and their big man Omer Asik.
The Houston Rockets are still hunting for a potential trade partner for their center, Omer Asik, and now after the 15th a window has been opened for almost every player in the league. Rumor has it that according to an outside source, Rockets GM Daryl Morey placed a December 19th deadline to trade the seven-footer. Morey said he “has an offer he is willing to take,” which is “very likely will be a pretty complicated, three-way deal.” Teams like the Boston Celtics and the Philadelphia 76ers have been brought up as potential buyers, but Celtics are more likely to give up a valuable player and a draft pick, whereas, the 76ers won’t want to give up their draft pick during the team’s rebuilding process.
Trading Asik by the time Morey’s deadline comes around is a logical idea, seeing that any player in the NBA could be involved in a subsquent deal by the specified date. All of this would have to take place before the NBA’s Feburary 20th trade deadline, but knowing Morey, Asik will be gone within no time.
However, the likelihood that Asik will be moving to Boston is at an all-time high. But, according to ESPN’s Marc Stein:
The Celtics possess two players in different salary ranges that would presumably fit in useful ways next to Dwight Howard: Jeff Green and Brandon Bass. The Celts also have a spare first-round draft pick or two to plug into any trade equation to sweeten the deal for Houston, amid rising suspicions around the league that Morey’s Rockets are going to find a way to come out of the Asik saga with at least one future first.
The only potential error is whether or not the Rockets can afford to house players like Green, Young, or Bass. With Chandler Parsons needing an extension and the Rockets keeping him without a doubt, a three-way deal may create a money battle for the Houston Rockets.
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