Houston Rockets: Brandon Knight trade offers not gaining traction

The Houston Rockets are still looking to improve their roster despite turning the rough start into five straight wins. With their main package not gaining much traction, will they be able to do so?

The Houston Rockets are starting to look a lot better after a bad start to the year and a tough stretch to begin December. Now, they have won five straight against fairly quality opponents and look back to their Conference Finals selves.

There is still more work to be done, however. The team is not completely satisfied with the current roster and would like to add another wing that can preferably defend well off the bench to pair with the current second unit duo of Gerald Green and Danuel House (or replace one of them).

Brandon Knight and his large contract, along with a first-round pick, is the trade package that the Rockets seem to be offering to teams. Unfortunately, according to Alykhan Bijani of The Athletic (article referenced here), no teams seem to be biting on that deal. Bijani’s exact words are that “there have been no takers.” Check out the rest of his article on The Athletic, it’s definitely worth the read.

If that’s the case, then how can the Rockets find a way to get more talent on the team? Let’s look at two options here that we could potentially see:

Buyout Market

This isn’t the prettier of the two options here, but it is certainly a likelihood that the Rockets take advantage of the buyout market when worse teams start letting go of their veteran players.

It’s tough to tell what names will be available at this point, especially with how tightly knit the Western Conference is. When the time comes, though, we’ll see teams who are looking to tank a bit buy out some of their guys on one-year deals. Trevor Ariza was one name that could’ve been a part of the market, but it’s tough to tell now that he’s been traded. If the Wizards continue to lose, could they buy out the ex-Rocket?

A bigger trade

The Houston Rockets showed late in the offseason and earlier in the season that they are not afraid to make a big move. They offered upwards of four first-round draft picks for Jimmy Butler before they decided to send him to Philadelphia.

With stars in bad situations likely to become unhappy, could the Rockets swoop in and offer a bigger deal than just Knight and a first rounder? Maybe a package around a now-struggling Eric Gordon along with others and multiple first-round picks might be a move we could see rumored. A guy like Bradley Beal, who showed us how great he can be last night, could be an awesome addition to the small Rockets team.

Of course, all of this is speculation and a team could end up wanting Brandon Knight and a first-rounder eventually. The Lakers and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope seem to be a pairing that could use a split, and the Rockets seem to be quite interested. Would they bite for this lesser trade package, or will Houston have to start being a bit more creative?