Spurs’ Finals struggles give Rockets perfect reason to make bold offseason gamble

The San Antonio Spurs might be in the best position to dominate the NBA over the next ten seasons. Their recent top draft picks, Victor Wembanyama, Stephon Castle, and Dylan Harper, all look like studs, and they have one of the best front offices in the league.

San Antonio making this year’s Finals puts them way ahead of schedule. However, their play on the biggest stage is also showing NBA fans that this core may still be a couple of years away from being ready to win a championship.

Now, this is still the team that beat the seemingly unstoppable Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 7. But the bright lights of the NBA Finals seem to be dragging them down. The prime example of this is the Spurs’ historic collapse in Game 4.

Houston can beat this version of the Spurs

The Houston Rockets should be paying close attention. Houston has an exciting young core that could turn this team into a perennial playoff contender for the next five to ten years. The problem? That timeline aligns perfectly with the Spurs’ growth and development.

With an aging Kevin Durant on the roster, Houston has an alternative path. They could trade some of their young talent and future draft capital to make a push for a championship in the next couple of seasons.

That would definitely be an unconventional form of team building and a huge gamble. If they trade away a massive amount of assets and still lose to the Spurs or Thunder in the playoffs, then it would be nothing short of a disaster.

But if the goal is to win a championship, does standing pat with a core that most likely has a lower ceiling than San Antonio or Oklahoma City really make sense?

This path only works if they make the right trades

Houston should not be reckless. This strategy only makes sense if the Rockets make smart trades that give the team the shooting and offensive creation they need, while not sacrificing their defensive identity.

If this front office could somehow swing a trade for Giannis Antetokounmpo, or another star-level move that also preserves enough shooting around Durant, that would be exactly the type of swing that could push Houston ahead of San Antonio while Durant is still on the team.

This would be a bold approach from the front office, but San Antonio has flashed its terrifying potential this postseason. The Spurs are already scary, but they are not unbeatable yet. The time is right now for Houston to cash in its trade chips and beat the Spurs while their core is still young.

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