5 biggest NBA trade moves made by the Houston Rockets in the 21st century
The Houston Rockets have been an exciting team since the turn of the century, entertaining fans and neutrals alike with their brand of basketball. The franchise has made some brilliant NBA trade decisions in the off-season, which has enabled them to have some of the biggest basketball players don the colors of the Rockets
On that note, let's take a look at the five biggest NBA trade deals completed by the Houston Rockets in the last two decades.
5 biggest NBA trade moves made by the Houston Rockets in the 21st century
#5 Tracy McGrady
In 2004-05, the Houston Rockets acquired Tracy McGrady in a seven-player NBA trade with Orlando Magic to pair him alongside rising Chinese star Yao Ming. T-Mac’s arrival in Houston inspired the franchise to their best performance in a decade, and they were back in postseason contention.
After leading the NBA in scoring in each of his last two seasons with the Orlando Magic, McGrady put up at least 24 points, five rebounds and 4.8 assists during each of his first three seasons with the Houston Rockets.
Unfortunately, when McGrady was with the franchise, Houston never made it out of the first round of the NBA playoffs. T-Mac's statistics were stellar nevertheless, as he averaged 27.7 points, 7.1 rebounds and seven assists per game.
#4 Chris Paul
In 2017, then Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey took the NBA trade market by storm when he pulled off a blockbuster deal to pair Chris Paul with incumbent superstar James Harden. In exchange for CP3, the Rockets dealt away fan-favorite Patrick Beverley, Montrezl Harrell, Lou Williams and a ton of other assets for the 10-time All-Star.
Paul stayed with the Houston Rockets till 2019 and averaged 17.1 points, eight assists and five rebounds per game in the two seasons he was with the franchise. Despite missing a good chunk of both seasons due to injury, Paul managed to put up more impressive numbers than the vast majority of players in the last two decades in the franchise's history.
Chris Paul also put up rock-solid numbers in the postseason and experienced a jump to 21.1 points per game during the 2018 NBA playoffs. In that same year, the Houston Rockets reached the Western Conference finals, which is the closest they have gotten to the NBA title in quite a while.
Also read: NBA Trade Options: How a move for Maurice Harkless could help Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant shed some defensive workload.