Omer Asik Wants to Be Traded, But the Rockets Won't Trade Him, Allegedly

Why would they? To get a “stretch 4” to play with Howard, like his days in Orlando? Disagree. Howard’s had back issues for the last two seasons. What guarantees are there that he’ll be 100% next season? And if the Rockets have to play Memphis in the postseason, how much trouble would they have with Gasol/Randolph? As rugged as the West is – seeds 1-6 could be separated by maybe five games – you could be looking at a 105+ game season to win the title.

In addition, the Rockets might have a very difficult time unloading Asik because of that $14.8 million salary next season.

[UPDATE: Trading Asik to another team would mean said team only takes an $8.3 million cap hit, not the full $14 mil.]

He’ll probably want to return to Chicago, but how would the great Daryl Morey pull that one off? I saw various reports on the always-reliable twitter that claimed the Pelicans weren’t going to part with trigger-happy power forward Ryan Anderson.

I’d ride with Asik.