Rockets fans: Time to stop with the Christian Wood trade ideas

If you’ve been keeping up with the Houston Rockets‘ fandom that is Rockets Twitter, you’ve likely learned several things by now. For one, Rockets Twitter can be easily triggered, and rightfully so, as anyone that has ever been a fan of the Rockets has experienced their fair share of heartbreak.

Outside of the consecutive title years, the Rockets have had a heavy dosage of trials and tribulations in practically every season. The 2020-21 season gave fans a true test of just how much they cared about the Rockets, as the franchise became emotionally difficult to follow, considering the lengthy losing streak that the team went through, not to mention the franchise overhaul that occurred, including long-time franchise player James Harden, which specifically put a damper in any hopes and plans of contending.

Houston Rockets fans, time to stop with the Christian Wood trade ideas

One of the other things that’s circulated quite a bit too frequently on Rockets Twitter as of late has been the fascination with trading Christian Wood, especially to the Golden State Warriors. Practically every day there’s been a different iteration of a trade surrounding Wood, mainly in hopes of landing a top lottery pick.

And although the dialogue has oftentimes been intriguing, it’s become a bit excessive, for several reasons. For starters, Wood is coming off of his only season as a de facto starter, and saw his season significantly shortened due to injury, as he missed 31 of the Rockets’ 72 games (43% of the season).

The reality is that Wood likely isn’t commanding a top-4 draft pick based on essentially half of a season, as that’s too small of a sample size. In addition, Rockets fans can attest to the fact that it’s rare for the Rockets to land the biggest fish in free agency, like they did in the 2020 offseason when they inked Wood to a three-year deal.

So why trade him after finally pulling that off and potentially ending the drought? In addition, Wood made it known that he’s happy to be in Houston and wants to remain with the Rockets, so how would it look to just deal him now?

Especially for a team that’s had several players that complained on their way out the door in recent years. But there’s also another element of the Wood trade proposals amongst fans.

Even if the Rockets were to land a top-four draft pick in exchange for Wood, who’s to say that player they would choose with that pick would end up being better than Wood? It’s important to consider, as Wood is still just 25-years-old and surely still developing.

Sure, the Rockets fanbase has grown accustomed to the ways of former general manager Daryl Morey, which closely resembles NBA 2K, as Morey created an environment of wheeling and dealing practically anyone. This manner of operating caused multiple players to not sign with the Rockets, as explained by J.J. Redick.

“I hate to say this – but you never know with Daryl and how he operates. A three-year deal could really be a six-month deal if you get dealt at the trade deadline for a superstar as part of a package of six.”

So although the discourse has been entertaining regarding a trade with Christian Wood, trading him could do more harm than good for the Houston Rockets. For that reason, it’s time to move on past that topic.