How the Houston Rockets can trade for Pistons forward Christian Wood

The unusual circumstances around 2020 may cause the Detroit Pistons to field offers for Christian Wood, and the Houston Rockets have pieces they may want.

When the Houston Rockets gave away the farm to have Russell Westbrook come into town, they essentially did the equivalent of going all-in in Texas Hold’Em. Unfortunately, their hand turned out to be a bust, and the team will have to be as creative as ever to make some meaningful transactions this offseason.

One of the few positive things surrounding the unusual NBA landscape this offseason, however, could help teams like the Rockets that don’t have much to spend this winter. One interesting situation will be what happens between the Detroit Pistons and Christian Wood.

Wood will be a sought-after free agent over the next few months, coming off the best two seasons of his NBA career. The Pistons are one of six teams with cap space going into next season, and as The Athletic‘s James Edwards wrote about in August (subscription required), they may not want to commit to what he’ll be asking for, given their “newfound financial flexibility.”

Edwards details the Pistons’ opportunity further, explaining how Wood’s potential could be especially attractive to teams desperate to make moves without the necessary cap space to do so.

There’s a precedent for the Houston Rockets being interested in the 6-10 power forward, as a separate column (subscription required) from The Athletic last February explained. In that article, Edwards pointed out that the Rockets were one of the teams to make multiple offers to the Pistons for Wood.

So how would a deal for the rising big man look?

Next: The Trade