Rockets must strongly consider draft day blockbuster with Nets

The Houston Rockets are routinely involved in trade rumors. Some make more sense than others.

Sometimes, they're outlandish. Writers around the league had the Rockets selling the farm for Jimmy Butler all year. It was senseless. Other times, propositions make total sense.

For example, a concept for a draft day deal with the Nets is making the rounds, and it's something the Rockets would have to consider.

Rockets could make draft day deal with Nets

That said, the specifics of the deal haven't been unearthed. The rumor is that the Nets would unload Cam Johnson and their own 19th pick to add another lottery pick, even at the expense of a "bad contract". Fans are putting the pieces together to deduce that this would be the deal:

That's undeniably reasonable. There are two questions the Rockets have to ask themselves here:

How much better is Johnson than Brooks? How much worse is the 19th pick than the 10th?

Let's start with the veterans. Johnson is considerably better than Brooks. In 2024-25, Johnson had a Box Plus/Minus (BPM) of 3.1 to Brooks' -1.5. That's more remarkable when considering that Brooks shot a career-best 39.7% from long range to Johnson's 39.0%.

Three-point shooting remains the primary advantage Johnson has over Brooks. He's a career 39.0% three-point shooter, and Brooks has shot 35.5% throughout his career. Beyond the raw accuracy, Johnson will have three-point gravity to open up the Rockets' offense that Brooks doesn't. No defense will ever be content to live with an open Johnson three.

The BPM story is a bit murkier. Brooks' Defensive Box Plus/Minus (DBPM) of 0.0 clearly doesn't reflect his value on that end of the floor. Brooks is routinely tasked with guarding the rival team's best player at the point of attack. That drags his number down. Johnson had a DBPM of -0.4 this year, but that undersells the gap between them: Johnson isn't guarding stars in single coverage.

He's still a considerably better player. There are no concerns about contracts either, as Johnson and Brooks' deals both run through to 2026-27, and Johnson makes about $3 million more per season. There's no question that this deal would make the Rockets a better team.

Is it worth dropping 9 spots in the draft?

Rockets must look at draft closely

Some Rockets fans will tell you that the team should be past adding young talent via the draft.

They will be wrong.

Adding cost-controlled talent is invaluable. The Rockets don't know what the future holds, so adding quality young players on rookie deals should remain a priority. It's not even impossible that they'll land their best player via the draft.

So, if the Rockets see a guy they love at 10th, they ought to turn this deal down. That said, Rafael Stone has done well later in the draft. If he sees a player in the range of 19th that he thinks is as valuable as the players available at 10th, he should pounce on this deal.

It's a rumor that actually makes sense.