How the Anthony Davis trade affects the Houston Rockets

The NBA world was shocked when the trade for heavily pursued All-Star big man went down this afternoon. How does this affect the Houston Rockets for next season and beyond?

The Houston Rockets, like the rest of the league, will look to react to the first big move of the 2019 NBA offseason. The summer is always a crazy and hectic time for basketball, despite the year being over.

The Pelicans and Lakers caught everyone by surprise this Saturday afternoon when they announced that Anthony Davis would be heading to LA for Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart and three first-round picks. That’s quite the haul for both sides as I personally think it will be good for each of them.

The Pelicans have agreed to a deal to trade Anthony Davis to the Lakers for Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart, and three first-round picks – including the No. 4 overall in 2019 Draft, league sources tell ESPN.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 15, 2019

There’s still a long offseason ahead of us, but the Lakers will likely be favored to win the championship next year after this move. The Warriors were just struck by tragic injuries that could keep them out of the conversation next year.

Now, the Rockets must find a way to respond. How does the Anthony Davis trade affect Houston for the summer?

Need to make a move?

As it currently sits, the Houston Rockets would be running it back next year with a very similar roster and core. The base of this team won 65 games a couple of seasons ago, but we know that things are different.

Chris Paul is aging. He isn’t the exact same player that almost helped the Rockets win a championship in 2018. He will likely continue to show signs of getting older, but could still be a productive player for the team.

However, the Rockets will probably want to explore the option of getting a secondary scorer on the team. I love Eric Gordon, but he isn’t good enough to be the second-best scorer on a championship team. I could see Houston continuing to pursue Jimmy Butler and trying to get him to opt in for a trade.

There are other options in the trade market, as well. Bradley Beal is a name that fans have long wanted in Houston. The Rockets will likely be very aggressive as they try to take advantage of the potential down year in Golden State. The team has made it known that practically anyone on the roster is available, so we’ll have to see what kind of deals happen.

EG and Clint Capela are the two guys on the team that can be traded and still make the Rockets better. Chris Paul and his contract are just a bit too much for that, probably. We will just have to see what the wizard Daryl Morey can pull off this summer.

The Rockets are also a very good team right now. Despite the disappointing ending, they had some incredible moments this year. Would they be good enough to beat a LeBron/AD combo in LA?