Where Are They Now? Rockets' Post-2021 First-Round Picks Who Have Been Traded

As mentioned earlier, Green, who was the first post-Harden draft pick, was part of the blockbuster Kevin Durant trade that brought the future Hall of Famer to Houston and sent Green and Dillon Brooks to the Suns. Before this trade, the Rockets had already moved on from three other first-round picks.

Josh Christopher

Josh Christopher was also part of the same draft as Green in 2021. Christopher was the Rockets' 24th pick that season, and to some, he was a surprise pick. Christopher played 132 games in his two seasons in Houston, but struggled to find any consistency.

Christopher saw his points per game and minutes decrease in his second and final season with the Rockets, before he was traded in the 2023 season as the Rockets began to shift their focus from the rebuilding phase to becoming a more competitive team. Christopher was part of the sign-and-trade deal that brought Dillon Brooks to the Rockets.

The Grizzlies waived Christopher soon after on Sept. 30. Christopher signed with the Utah Jazz on a two-way contract but spent his entire time there with their G League affiliate, the Salt Lake City Stars. Christopher last played with the Miami Heat on another two-way contract, where he appeared in 14 games but only averaged two points. Christopher is currently a free agent.

Usman Garuba

Usman Garuba was another 2021 pick for the Houston Rockets. Garuba had spent his entire basketball career up until the draft in Spain. Garuba was seen as a project coming into the draft, but he had shown the potential to be a player who could excel on defense and run the floor. Unfortunately, that never translated to the NBA. Garuba spent his entire time with the Rockets bouncing back and forth from the G League to backing up Sengun and Jabari Smith.

Just like Christopher, Garuba would only spend two seasons with the Rockets, as he played an average of a little over 11 minutes a game in the two seasons, Garuba was traded in the summer of 2023 to the Atlanta Hawks in a five-team trade which the Rockets mainly did to clear up cap space as they received Alpha Kaba in the trade, who ended up never playing in the NBA.

Garuba was then traded again four days later to the Thunder, who waived him soon after. Garuba would go on to play only six more games in the NBA for the Warriors in 2023-24 before returning to Spain, where he signed a three-year deal with Real Madrid.

Cam Whitmore

The last player on the list is Cam Whitmore, who is also the most recent player to be traded this offseason. Whitmore, like the other players mentioned, spent two seasons with the Rockets. Unlike the other two players, however, Whitmore had some success with the Rockets, albeit most of it occurred during his rookie season.

Whitmore was the biggest surprise of the 2023 draft as he went from a projected top 10 pick to dropping to the Rockets at No. 21. Whitmore, however, had one of the best rookie seasons of any draft pick in the 2023-24 season, as he became not just one of the best rookie scoring bench players but also one of the better players per 36 points per game off the bench.

Going into the second season, most expected Whitmore to have a significant role off the bench as the Rockets continued to transition from a player development team to a team competing for a playoff spot. That, however, never happened as some of the reasons Whitmore dropped in the draft manifested themselves during the season.

That led to Whitmore spending time in the G League and seeing his playing time continue to drop throughout the season. That's why it came as no surprise when Whitmore was traded to the Washington Wizards this offseason.

No one should be surprised that some of the Rockets' draft picks during the rebuilding years are not on the team. From the time the Rockets initiated their rebuild, most people knew that some of these players would not complete their careers with the Rockets. The Rockets are going all in on a championship run this season, and when teams try to take the next step, there will usually be significant changes to the roster, and the Rockets are no different.