Rockets: Why trading Danuel House isn’t the right move

After getting a long-term contract with the Houston Rockets, Danuel House was elated. The Missouri City native expressed gratitude and a level of appreciation to the franchise for believing in him enough to do what no other team had done up to that point: make a long-term commitment and allow him to find a permanent home in the NBA.

House took it a step further, explaining that he felt that he had been undervalued and slept on throughout his entire NBA career, vowing to make people regret doing so.

“I feel like I’m slept on, heavily. With a pillow and a blanket. … My goal here was to hit the snooze button, and also come here and be prepared. I feel like I play both sides of the ball well. Me being a G League guy, I guess people don’t want to talk about guys like us, unless it’s a huge, huge story.

I feel like I am one of the top two-way players in this league. Just got to continue to show it, and continue to play hard, night in and night out.”

On a Rockets team that has undergone drastic changes over the years, House joins Eric Gordon and P.J. Tucker as the only players on the current roster that have been with the franchise since 2018. House became infamous for an incident in the 2020 NBA playoffs that saw him get sent home due to a violation of the NBA’s coronavirus protocol, when it was determined that he allowed an unauthorized visitor into the team’s hotel.

Why the Houston Rockets shouldn’t trade Danuel House

House later apologized and moved forward with the new regime, which has a ton of question marks, as several key players are on expiring deals and could ultimately not be on the roster much longer. House has reportedly garnered interest around the league, as explained by ESPN’s Brian Windhorst.

“I’ve heard Danuel House’s name. At least some teams doing some research on Danuel House, I don’t know how available he is. I’ve heard some teams poking around on him, doing some background stuff.”

Although the Rockets may be tempted to move House, and especially depending on the return, such a move wouldn’t be the best one, for several reasons.

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