Houston Rockets Trade Rumors Connect Team with 26-Year-Old Scoring Threat

The Houston Rockets will probably make some more roster moves throughout the NBA season. A few weeks ago, many expected them to be one of the few true contenders for the title. They added Kevin Durant to a successful young team, as well as some other elite role players. 

The core of Fred VanVleet, Kevin Durant, Amen Thompson, and Alperen Sengun were supposed to dominate this season. 

Then Fred VanVleet tore his ACL and everything changed. The Rockets now have a glaring hole at the point guard position. VanVleet was going to be the leader and orchestrator of the Rockets’ offense. 

Now the Rockets will need to rely on someone else. Some people have floated Reed Sheppard’s name. Thompson, Sengun, and Durant can also be offensive focal points. However, none of them have the experience or skill set of VanVleet. 

That’s why many Rockets trade rumors started right after VanVleet went down. One player who has been linked as a possible Rockets trade target is Anfernee Simons. 

Simons was traded to the Boston Celtics this offseason, but he is rumored to still be on the trade block. Simons has played seven seasons in Portland, with multiple seasons averaging over 20 points per game.

Could Simons be a replacement for VanVleet? It’s not a perfect fit. Despite being super athletic and elite as a scorer, Simons doesn’t bring the offensive floor general skills or defensive toughness that VanVleet does. 

The other question is what the Rockets would need to give up to get Simons. Simons is set to make over $25 million this season. That makes trading for his contract a bit more complicated. 

While Simons might not be the perfect replacement, he certainly would add another weapon to the Rockets' roster. If the Rockets can trade for Simons without giving up too much of their current core, he could be worth making a home-run move for.