Houston Rockets: 3 trades that send Andre Drummond to Houston

Houston Rockets Andre Drummond Trade #1

This trade deviates from the other two in that the Rockets are surrendering Eric Gordon but it’s a deal that makes their starting lineup better and opens up a lot of future cap space. The loss of Gordon can’t be understated but adding Drummond and his abilities as a defender and rebounder should offset Gordon’s shot-making ability.

Gordon has been resurgent this season but his contract and age mean that the Rockets should look to move on from him now when his value is high instead of keeping him through a period when they are trying to rebuild. If this deal goes through the Rockets would only have $69 million in salary commitments next season and they could still remain competitive enough to make the playoffs this season.

The Heat will have to make the difficult decision of offloading Goran Dragic and Andre Iguodala to the Cavaliers but both are expensive and past their primes. Gordon could replace Dragic’s production and having Iguodala’s salary off the books is something that Heat should relish as he isn’t the player he used to be.

The reason the Cavaliers would be interested in this trade is that both Dragic and Iguodala are under contract for next season which will allow them to flip the two veterans in the summer for more assets as they build for the future. It also remains a possibility that the Cavaliers could find a fourth team to send one of these two to but that’s of little concern to the Rockets.

Should the Rockets trade for Andre Drummond?

In the end, for the Rockets to secure Andre Drummond they’ll have to part with a lot of salary to land the league’s foremost rebounding expert. Bringing him into the fold will drastically improve their frontcourt depth and starting lineup but will hurt the overall depth of the roster.

However, his contract is expiring and the Rockets have not so subtly been trying to get cheaper. Drummond might not have a long-term home in Houston but him coming off the books and the salary sent out to get him could make the Rockets cap space situation be much better in the coming seasons.

Trading for Drummond helps the Rockets balance their current state as a playoff hopeful, while also setting up their future salary cap outlook to be quite rosy. Any trade for Drummond will be difficult for the Rockets to pull off but in the end, it will help the franchise’s present and future outlook.

As long as the draft pick compensation is relatively low then the Rockets should be one of the first teams to kick the tires on a move for Andre Drummond. Perhaps another team will outbid the Rockets, but any of these trades should be enough to send Drummond to Houston.