With deadline day trades sending veteran Eric Gordon to the Los Angeles Clippers and Garrison Mathews and Bruno Fernando to the Atlanta Hawks, the Houston Rockets and third-year general manager Rafael Stone further added to a stockpile of future draft assets.
The deal with Los Angeles brought in a 2023 first-round swap right for the Rockets involving the Milwaukee pick they already owned and the lesser of two picks between the Clippers and the Thunder. As it stands at the deadline, that could move up Houston from a spot in the late 20s in the first-round order to the late-10s range.
Meanwhile, the deal with Atlanta will bring in Oklahoma City’s second-round picks in both 2024 and 2025. Effectively, by taking on larger salaries, the Rockets are buying those selections.
The Rockets also continue to own first-round assets from Brooklyn through 2027, owing to the blockbuster James Harden trade from January 2021. The outlook for those picks has improved in recent weeks due to the forced departures of Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant.
Through 2029, here’s an updated year-by-year list of the Rockets’ draft picks, as of February 2023. Scroll on for further details.
2023
- Houston OR Brooklyn first-round pick, whichever is higher
- Second-best of three first-round selections between Oklahoma City, the Los Angeles Clippers, and Milwaukee
The second pick-swap right is top-six protected. If both the Clippers and Thunder somehow finish in the top six of the 2023 NBA draft lottery, Houston would receive Milwaukee’s pick.
2024
- Brooklyn first-round pick
- Houston second-round selection
- Oklahoma City second-round selection
- Brooklyn second-round selection
- Golden State second-round pick, protected for selections 56-60 (anything else and it conveys)
Houston’s own first-round pick is headed to Oklahoma City unless it falls within the top four of the 2024 draft lottery.
2025
- First-round pick from Houston, Oklahoma City, OR Brooklyn (Oklahoma City can swap its 2025 first for Houston’s first-round pick, top-10 protected; after that is decided, Houston can swap its pick for Brooklyn’s selection, if desired)
- Houston second-round selection
- Minnesota second-round selection
- Oklahoma City second-round selection
2026
- Brooklyn first-round pick
- Houston second-round selection
- Dallas, Oklahoma City, or Philadelphia second-round selection (second-best pick of these three)
Houston’s own first-round pick is headed to Oklahoma City unless it falls within the top four of the 2026 draft lottery.
2027
- Houston OR Brooklyn first-round pick, whichever is higher
- Minnesota second-round selection
2028
- Houston first-round pick
- Houston second-round selection
2029
- Houston first-round pick
- Houston second-round selection
Any of these picks that does not contain a reference to protections or pick-swap rights is fully owned by the Rockets for that year.
When considering hypothetical trades, remember the NBA’s Stepien rule, which prevents teams from being without a first-round pick (either their own or from another team) in consecutive future drafts. However, Houston is set up well to avoid that conundrum, since they own at least one first-round pick over the next seven years.
It’s also possible to work around that rule by executing a trade shortly after a pick is made — i.e. the Rockets could trade both their 2023 and 2024 first-round picks by waiting to execute a deal until after the 2023 selection is made (with Houston choosing for another team).
That’s why the June 2022 trade sending Christian Wood from Houston to Dallas wasn’t finalized until after the draft. The Mavs could not technically be without a 2022 pick due to already being without one in 2023. However, they worked around that limitation.
