Who was Morey referencing as the ‘third star’ on the Houston Rockets?

1. Robert Covington

Few guys have ever had a better Houston Rockets season debut than Robert Covington. The long sought-after forward made his triumphant return to H-Town in a big way on February 6th against the Los Angeles Lakers.

RoCo tallied 14 points, eight rebounds, four assists and swatted two shots away against LeBron James and company, burying a couple of clutch 3-pointers along the way to a 121-111 victory at Staples Center.

Covington would quickly prove that performance wasn’t a fluke, as he scored in double figures in seven of the team’s next nine games, which included a 20-point game against the Golden State Warriors on 5-of-10 shooting from deep.

Robert Covington has 4 blocks in each of the past two games, one of 4 players (Anthony Davis, Andre Drummond, Jonathan Isaac) averaging at least 1.50 steals per game & 1.00 blocks per game this season. He has hit 4+ 3FGM in 3/5 games with Houston (only 8 times in 48 games w/ MIN) pic.twitter.com/YxFI4DmqoI

— Alykhan Bijani (@Rockets_Insider) February 22, 2020

While the 29-year-old’s 12.8 points per game put him at fourth on the Rockets in points per game, it’s his defense that is really making him stand out as a potential third star on the team.

At 6-7, Covington has been demonstrating remarkable instincts and timing on the defensive end, particularly when it comes to blocking shots.

Covington has had four separate games in which he’s blocked four shots, including a big win against the Boston Celtics last month. Overall, he has 35 blocks in just 14 games for a 1.8 average. 14 games is a decent sample size, and his presence is definitely making a difference down low.

Another question Morey was asked in the Instagram AMA was regarding his favorite win of the season so far, in which he replied “Rockets @ Lakers, Covington’s first game.” That could be another hint as to who he sees as the team’s third star after Russ and James.

Next: No. 2