5 months ago before the February trade deadline, the Rockets were reportedly interested in acquiring Celtics star point guard Rajon Rondo. Talks between the two clubs, however, failed to progress to a serious stage because both teams were reportedly disagreeing on whether or not the Rockets should include Chandler Parsons as part of the trade package for Rondo.
Right now, it seems that Houston is looking to explore possible trade scenarios for Rajon Rondo once again as ESPN.com's Marc Stein reported:
So look for Rockets to re-enter trade game for longtime Houston target Rajon Rondo as well as try to work their way into mix for Kevin Love
Apparently, we have been down this road before but right now it appears that it is more unrealistic for the Rockets to pull a sign-and-trade with the Celtics for Rajon Rondo than it was 5 months ago. Back in February, the Celtics were interested to trade Rondo for Omer Asik and Chandler Parsons but the Rockets were unwilling to include Parsons in the trade scenario that's why the trade talks never progressed to a serious stage.
Now that Houston has shipped Omer Asik to the Pelicans and Jeremy Lin to the Lakers - to make room for a max contract offer to Bosh who eventually resigned with the Heat - they simply don't have the trade assets to acquire Rondo. And the biggest trade chip in Chandler Parsons is now a Mavs after the Rockets declined to match the offer Dallas made to the 25 year old rising forward.
Obviously, the Rockets are scrambling to add another star this free agency after they failed in their pursuit of a marquee free agent name like Chris Bosh, LeBron James, and Carmelo Anthony. Right now, its simply very difficult to imagine how the Rockets could come up with any sort of plan whatsoever that would prevent Danny Ainge from from putting their call directly to voicemail unless they convince other teams to participate in the deal.
Rondo will become an unrestricted free agent next offseason which means that the Celtics will surely be entertaining offers from other teams this summer. The C's, however, are maintaining an extremely high value for the star point guard and the Rockets only have Terrence Jones and Donatas Motiejunas to offer for him - which is obviously not enough.
Its certainly safe to bet that Houston had a better chance at getting Rondo before they went all in for Chris Bosh last week. Now, they could definitely be out of the Rondo trade game but the Celtics could also be out of luck if they really had an interest in Parsons and Asik in a deal for the point guard. It means that the Celtics are one possible suitor out if they become serious about trading their All-Star point guard.
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