Merry December 15th, Rockets fans! It’s the unofficial start of NBA trade season

Tis the season, not to be jolly, but for NBA trades. December 15th is the unofficial start of NBA trade season. Why is it unofficial? Because players can be traded beforehand but rarely are. The significance of December 15th is it marks the day players who signed contracts over the summer are eligible to be traded. So while teams could be swinging deals before December 15th, and they do happen, they’d rather wait until more players and, thus, potential trades open up. 

The Houston Rockets will be active in trade season

The Houston Rockets are unlikely to be major players during the 2022-23 trade season, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be active. Eric Gordon has been perpetually on the trade block since what feels like the signing of the Magna Carta, and even Kenyon Martin Jr, the rim’s sworn enemy, has found his way into the rumor mill. 

Outside of Gordon and Martin, the Rockets do have an assortment of interesting veterans and rarely used young players. Would a team part with draft capital for Garrison Mathews, Jae’Sean Tate, or Bruno Fernando? Would someone want the chance to rehabilitate Josh Christopher? All these questions and more will be answered as we kick off the Rockets’ trade season special. 

The project will take a few days and be content-rich. We’ll start the exercise by determining Eric Gordon’s trade value and finding him new homes. Then we’ll look at KJ Martin’s trade value and if the Rockets should even trade him in the first place. From there we’ll look at whether now is the right time to move the trio of Garrison Mathews, Jae’Sean Tate, and Bruno Fernando. Then we’ll see where the Rockets rank league-wide in trade assets. And we’ll conclude it with a teamwide ranking of trade value. 

NBA trade season is a wonderful season that lasts from December 15th to the trade deadline on February 9th, at 3 p.m. Eastern time. For two months, your imagination can run wild, every player is available, and the superteam of your dreams is just one mid-season crisis away from fruition. The Rockets should be in on some of the action, and Space City Scoop will be here to cover it.