Should the Houston Rockets trade away Danuel House?

With Houston Rockets forward Danuel House struggling of late, it’s worth raising the question of whether the Rockets should trade him away.

During the 2018-19 season, Houston Rockets forward Danuel House was a surprising addition to a Rockets team in need of contributors. Chris Paul had a disappointing second year in Houston and appeared to be over the hill, and the Rockets dealt with injuries to Clint Capela and Eric Gordon as well.

This gave House an opportunity to thrive for the Rockets and he did just that, as he averaged 13.5 points per 36 minutes and shot a scorching 41.6 percent from long-range. This was not only the best on the Rockets, but it was also 13th-best in the entire league, which forced Rockets general manager Daryl Morey to re-sign him in the offseason.

It’s been a bit of a different story in year two of House’s Rockets career, as his 3-point shooting has slipped to 37.4 percent from downtown and his overall scoring hasn’t quite been the same. House is shooting 42 percent from the field this season, compared to 46.8 percent during the 2018-19 season in which he burst onto the scene.

Granted House’s 3-point clip is certainly a respectable number, but he shot so well last season that he earned the reputation of a sniper, which he hasn’t been this season.

House has recently regressed as he’s had a field goal percentage of 39 percent during the months of December and January and has shot 33.5 percent from downtown during that same stretch. The 6-foot-7 forward has also had a dropoff in his offensive rating this season, as the Rockets have scored 114 points per 100 possessions in which he’s on the floor this season, compared to 121 last season.

House’s player efficiency rating has also slipped from 12.2 last season to 10.8 this year, and his true shooting percentage has dropped from 64.6 percent to 56.9 percent. I could keep going, but you get the point.

This raises the question of whether the Rockets should trade him, which is a fair but complicated question. For starters, we don’t really know how much value he has at this point considering his drop off in play. House has a salary of $3.5 million, which could prove to be pivotal for the Rockets to compile enough outgoing salary to be able to land a significant contributor.

House has the sixth-highest outgoing salary this season for the Houston Rockets, which means the Rockets will have to include him if they’re trading for anyone who is making more than $6 million. We’ll have to see what happens on Thursday, which is the trade deadline, but at this point the Rockets would be wise to include the 26-year-old House.