3 lessons Christian Wood has learned since being dealt by Rockets

Dallas Mavericks v Atlanta Hawks
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3. No team was going to take care of him like the Rockets

The Rockets valued Wood quite highly - so much that they rejected trade offers for anything less than a first-round pick. This could be viewed as lofty, as Wood bounced around to every team west of the Mississippi River (okay, not literally) and every team couldn't wait to get rid of him.

The Rockets even viewed Wood as a part of their future. So much that they even approached him about a contract extension, which Wood even admitted himself.

"We have had talks. It's something we can talk about later in the summer, but we will have to see."

Granted, this could be because the Rockets couldn't fetch a trade to their liking, so they may have felt like they were stuck with him. But regardless, they were legitimately interested in giving him a long-term extension, which none of the other 300 teams he suited up for had any remote interest in doing.

The Rockets brokered those conversations with Wood despite him making it known that he wanted a max contract (which is hilarious, looking back). Granted, just because he wants a max deal doesn't mean he has to get one, sure.

But the point is that the Rockets were aware of the hefty price tag that he wanted. And they were only able to offer him a four-year deal worth $77 million and proceeded to have extension talks. The Rockets were planning to build around Wood.

No other team was going to do this.