Could the Rockets Trade Fred VanVleet Following Injury?

Fred VanVleet’s season-ending ACL injury was a lethal blow for the Houston Rockets' chances of competing for a championship.

Houston certainly needs the NBA champion and former All-Star, if they want to challenge the Oklahoma City Thunder, who are fresh off winning a title and were able to keep everyone in the fold (for now, at least).

The Rockets' most likely path towards replacing him centers around Amen Thompson, who has been used mainly as a wing thus far. That's quite a bit to throw on Thompson's plate, as he's already going to be tasked with defending the opposing team's best wing (and possibly best scoring threat), in addition to running the offense.

Reed Sheppard and Aaron Holiday are other guard options at the moment. Actually, they're the only point guards on the Rockets' entire roster.

That likely won't change, considering the Rockets' salary cap crunch. They're $1.2 million away from being hard-capped.

In other words, they don't even have enough money to offer the vet minimum. They also don't have an open roster spot.

They could trade Tari Eason or Sheppard immediately, but both players will be pivotal pieces for a team that just acquired Kevin Durant. 

Houston could also trade any of their offseason signees on December 15th (i.e. Josh Okogie, Clint Capela, Dorian Finney-Smith). Ditto for their recently extended players from the summer, which ironically includes VanVleet - who signed a two-year contract extension worth $50 million.

Could the Rockets look to actually trade him, to land a replacement? He'd offer $25 million in salary ballast, which would allow Houston to land a significant piece.

CBS Sports' Sam Quinn mapped out the challenges of such a move.

"Doing so would be complicated on a number of levels. For starters, VanVleet has an implicit no-trade clause by virtue of signing a one-year deal with a player option.

Beyond the technical logistics, there are the locker room dynamics at play here. Houston signed VanVleet and Dillon Brooks in the summer of 2023 to help establish a culture. Moving VanVleet risks upsetting a delicate locker room balance."

VanVleet has certainly been the leader in the locker room. Alperen Sengun has discussed it ad nauseum. However, if he signs off on such a move (which, again, he'd have to), the locker room would be fine.

Quinn continued. 

"If Sheppard and Thompson are so good that VanVleet wouldn't be returning to a starting job, yes, the Rockets should probably sniff around the trade market. Conversely, if they think they're a ball-handler away from winning the title in 2026, it's similarly worth exploring alternatives."

Everything is a possibility, let's first acknowledge that. But this would surprise me, as Rockets coach Ime Udoka values VanVleet. He's been an extension of his coaching staff, clearly.

Udoka would likely prefer to keep VanVleet around, even if only on the bench. Again, he's been impactful as the vocal leader -- a player's coach, if you will.

But if the Rockets' brass sees an opportunity to land a major upgrade, they'll certainly explore it.