Clippers Rumors: Rockets may pursue Blake Griffin if available
By Tom West
If Los Angeles Clippers superstar Blake Griffin becomes available, the Houston Rockets have interest in pursuing a trade for him this summer.
As of right now, there’s no way to predict that the Los Angeles Clippers will trade one of their star Big 3 this summer after all. Doc Rivers has reiterated again that he thinks the best move for the team is to keep the core together, although adding that of course things may change hints at the possibility of a trade somewhere down the line (click here for more details). Now, it’s been reported that the Houston Rockets would be interested if that were the case, as they’re ready to make a blockbuster sign-and-trade this summer if the right star is available.
After crushing the hopes and dreams of the Clippers and their fans in the playoffs last year, overcoming that painful 3-1 series deficit to make the Western Conference Finals, the Rockets have been an absolutely dire disappointment this season. With such a diabolical absence of team chemistry and defensive effort, they barely even made the playoffs as an 8th seed at 41-41.
Perhaps as they try to turn things around and adjust their roster, they’ll do so in a major way, as Sean Deveney of Sporting News has reported with the mentioning of stars like Blake Griffin:
"A person familiar with the organization told Sporting News that landing Hawks star Al Horford is the Rockets’ top-line goal in free agency, and Ryan Anderson also would be a possibility. Also, expect [Daryl] Morey to be creative when pursuing sign-and-trade deals involving star players like Blake Griffin, Jimmy Butler or Carmelo Anthony, should they become available."
Carmelo Anthony is a name that has appeared in multiple trade rumors over recent months due to the general discouraging state of the New York Knicks. As for Jimmy Butler, he’s also emerged in rumors if the Chicago Bulls suddenly pursue a franchise-altering deal to rebuild their roster and use Butler to acquire a host of valuable assets.
However, as is always the case, the NBA rumor mill churns and churns but most things never happen. These names attached to the Rockets may catch their interest and they could make plenty of calls to see what they can make work, but this doesn’t necessarily mean anyone will take up their offers.
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Even highly coveted free agent Al Horford may not be interested, seeing as he’ll receive better offers to join far more promising situations all around the league.
And in this instance with the Clippers and Blake Griffin, it’s incredibly hard to see anything materializing. They won’t get James Harden in return for Griffin (not that he’d be a remotely good fit with Chris Paul anyway) and they won’t want Dwight Howard in a sign-and-trade when they already have a younger elite defender in DeAndre Jordan. So, outside of those two stars, what package could the Rockets put together that would offer Doc any real incentive to send away his superstar power forward after insisting that he wants him to stay in Los Angeles?
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This rumor will surely go nowhere, and from a Clippers perspective, it’s nothing to worry about for fans. For the Rockets, though, beyond looking for a new center such as Horford which only affirms their intention to move on from Howard, the intrigue into making a trade for a star player could mean plenty is in store for Houston over the next few months.