4 historical Rockets' moments we wish were April Fool's jokes

4. Ty Lawson never pans out

After reaching the Conference Finals in year two of the Dwight Howard/James Harden pairing, the Rockets appeared to be on the up-and-up. Harden had developed into a bonafide superstar, who proved capable of being able to get buckets at will, and the Rockets still reached the Conference Finals, depite Howard having an injury-riddled season that caused him to miss 41 games in 2014-15.

Now all the Rockets needed was a true point guard, right? Enter Ty Lawson, who posted averages of 17.6 points and 8.8 assists in 2013-14 and 15.2 points and 9.6 assists in 2014-15.

Lawson ranked third in assists in both seasons and was only 27-years-old. What could go wrong?

Howard would have a facilitator to feed him more down low in the post and Harden would have someone that could set him up for open looks, right? Lawson would help the Rockets construct a formidable "Big Three" in the Western Conference, which would have been lethal for a team that had just won 56 games, the second-most in the Western Conference.

Well, all of that sounded good at the time, but the results were much different, to say the least. Lawson averaged 5.8 points and 3.4 assists, while shooting just 38.7 percent from the floor, and was ultimately yanked from the starting lineup after just 11 consecutive starts, during which the Rockets went 4-7.

During that season, Lawson logged multiple DNPs and missed five games due to suspension from a DUI arrest. Lawson was ultimely waived by the franchise before the regular season ended, in spite of the team making a playoff push.

Yikes. That's not what the Rockets had in mind when they shipped out a 2016 protected first-round pick and $440,000, along with four players. But sometimes it's better to cut your losses while you're ahead.