Will the Rockets keep their pick? Should they?

No such thing as too many options

As an organization, the Houston Rockets should be thrilled. By climbing from 9 to 3 in the lottery, Rafael Stone’s Rockets front office proved their thesis of the James Harden trade to be correct:

It’s smarter to trade for a stock of unprotected draft capital than Ben Simmons.

This may have been clear the moment reports of Brooklyn’s offer started circulating, but MANY were skeptical, even resorting to mocking Houston:

The Rockets are within their right to gloat about this trade. They essentially traded James Harden and Eric Gordon for a package that ended up becoming Cam Whitmore, Tari Eason, the 2024 number three overall pick, another Nets 1st rounder in 2026, and the rights to swap picks with them in 2025 and 2027.

Normally, teams in Houston’s position opt to draft the player and move on. In fact, no team has opted to trade a Top-3 overall pick (post-lottery and before their rookie season) in the last five years! It’s only happened four times this decade. But the Rockets are different.