Rockets: 5 realistic trades involving Kevin Porter Jr.

2. Rockets partake in Washington's fire sale

In any deal involving Porter, the Rockets' sole objective would be to acquire a player capable of competing right away. After all, the Rockets are hoping to contend in 2023-24 - the first year of what they've dubbed phase two of their rebuild.

The Washington Wizards are doing the complete opposite, as they dealt away two of their best players in Kristaps Porzingis and Bradley Beal, their franchise cornerstone. And it's not like they got back anything significant in return for the latter, as Beal's no-trade clause forced the franchise to take the best deal possible from the place that he most wanted to go to.

When it was all said and done, the Wizards landed Landry Shamet, Jordan Poole (by way of Chris Paul), six second-round draft picks and four first-round pick swaps. As the Wizards are clearly rebuilding, they could be tempted to trade Shamet to Houston, in exchange for two second-round picks and Porter's dead salary, as he'd be released immediately.

Shamet is under contract for $10.3 million in 2023-24 and has a non-guaranteed 2024-25 annual number of $11 million, followed by a team option of $11.8 million in 2025-26. 

Shamet won't give the Rockets much besides 3-point shooting, as he lacks the athleticism to get to the rim and is a traffic cone on defense. But a team that's parting with their best long-range shooter would be more than happy to acquire a 39 percent career 3-point shooter who plays the exact position as the player they're parting with, and is still only 26-years-old.

And Shamet could provide off-ball shooting and additional catch-and-shoot scoring opportunities, which would be beneficial alongside Fred VanVleet and Amen Thompson, to a lesser degree.