Houston Rockets: Which Players Will Get Traded?

Who is actually going to get moved?

With a less aggressive general manager, it might be hard to picture this particular team being able to make much headway in the trade market. However, with Morey being Morey, it’s reasonable to expect movement from either Ariza or Brewer, but it’s going to take an absolute blockbuster of a deal for Howard to get traded.

The unmentioned name in all of this belongs to James Harden. It’s safe to say that Morey would take calls on Harden if need be, but the asking price is surely a top-five NBA player.

Considering the fact that the Warriors are pretty happy with Stephen Curry, the Oklahoma City Thunder have already traded Harden away and currently enjoy the services of four-time scoring champion Kevin Durant and back-to-back All Star MVP Russell Westbrook, and of course the Cavs and LeBron James are their own special kind of match, Harden isn’t going anywhere.

This trade deadline and coming offseason are sure to be Daryl Morey’s toughest tests to date.

Figuring out if/how to get value for Dwight Howard, rebuilding a functional core around James Harden and providing the roster with a leadership structure that won’t allow for the loafing and ineffective effort that this team has become known for will be vital, as will bringing in an NBA-ready head coach.

More hoops habit: NBA Trade Rumors: 10 Landing Spots For Dwight Howard

Faulting Bickerstaff for the mess that is his team would be silly, of course, but there is no way that a coach like Tom Thibodeau would be provided with the same night-to-night effort that this team puts forth right now.

In the coming week and months, we’ll see just what Daryl Morey is made of.