To make matters even better for the Rockets, they are as well-positioned as any team to add more talent in preparation for a playoff push in 2025. They won the third overall pick of the 2024 NBA Draft thanks to the James Harden trade of 2021, and now, they could either use it to draft another blue-chip prospect or dangle it as part of a consolidation trade to nab a star-level player.

While the most likely route for the Rockets to take is to trade the selection away, projected top-10 pick Donovan Clingan, who won two national championships with the UConn Huskies, sees himself as a potentially good fit on the Rockets even though they already have an established cornerstone at the position in Alperen Sengun

“I feel like I can be able to step out behind the three-point line and knock down threes to be able to go out there and pair up with another big at the same time. If it’s inside and out, I can play in the post. I can pass on the three-point line, I can pass all over, find open guys, and be able to knock down three-pointers,” Clingan told Michael Scotto of HoopsHype when asked if he could form an effective duo with Sengun.

As the Minnesota Timberwolves have shown, having two big men in the starting lineup can work; the Rockets also have hard-nosed, athletic defenders across every position, so in the event that Houston pairs Alperen Sengun up with Donovan Clingan, they will have the personnel to make the pieces fit together. Alas, the Rockets already have a stockpile of talent, and the smart money is on them figuring out a way to combine those assets to add a player that could help elevate them into a playoff team in the loaded Western Conference