Does Bridges to Houston put the Rockets in contention?

[louc1970]

Rockets have a good mix of experience and youth. FVV/Brooks/Adams (if healthy) and Sengun/Smith/Whitmore/Thompson.

Rockets trade Jalen Green/Eason/#3/26 BRK FRP, and 27 BRK swap
Nets trade Bridges

Rockets get the top player and are able to put a team together of Sengun/Smith/Brooks/Bridges/FVV. Still have youth backing up these spots to learn/grow.
Nets trade in with a player many want, get their picks returned and can go rebuild with moving Johnson/DFS/eventually Simmon or picks and salary dumps.

[K_chile22]

No it doesn't and that's way too much

[Colbinii]

This is far too much for Bridges.

Houston wasn't even a playoff team last year, the idea that Mikal Bridges puts them "in contention" is laughable.

[gswhoops]

Yeah. I would describe Bridges as an "elite role player" a la Derrick White - he's a great ceiling raiser for a team that's already pretty good, but not a great floor raiser for a team that's struggling to make the playoffs (as we saw with Brooklyn last year).

I could see a team that already had their 1/2 guys in place paying this kind of a premium for Bridges (OKC?), but Houston isn't that team.

[LarsV8]

Bridges is a role player.

Green or #3 or 27 Nets picks.

Any one.

[Colbinii]

Bridges is a role player.

Green or #3 or 27 Nets picks.

Any one.

All players are role players. LeBron James wears many of hats, each one a role.

Rudy Gobert is a role player.

I think we are selling ourselves short by using the term role player to encompass anything from Mikal Bridges to Nickeil Alexander-Walker. When you have one term that encompasses Mikal and Nickeil, maybe we need better terms

More accurately, Mikal Bridges isn't stirring the drink. He fills in a ton of cracks by being a floor spacer, tertiary creator, elite on-ball defender, extremely malleable and switchable defender. So yeah, he is worth a lot.

I agree #3 or Green are excellent "Meat and Potatoes" of a package for Bridges. At the same time, Bridges value increases to teams closer to winning a title. A team like Houston would love to acquire Bridges, but they aren't emptying the kitchen sink with High-end Assets [Green AND #3] for a player like Mikal Bridges.

Take the Lakers though, and they would send Rui/JHS/Filler/#17/2029 1st/2031 1st [Little protection here] for Mikal--they may even do Austin Reeves as the centerpiece and less picks.

OKC is an interesting team with all the assets to unload for Mikal as well.

[Kalamazoo317]

Contention for the playoffs, sure. Bridges is a really good player that helps most rosters. But usually teams need a top 10-15 player to hit contender status and Rockets still wouldn’t have that.

[drchaos]

Bridges is a role player.

Green or #3 or 27 Nets picks.

Any one.

You don't get to keep the pick swap next year if you want Bridges.

Nets have no reason the help you by tanking for nothing in return.

[jayjaysee]

Yeah, these threads don’t go well.

But assume in real life, if Brooklyn wanted the right to tank - there are deals to be made here.

And Brooklyn is unfortunately the one team with pick debt that I think should pay to rebuild. Atlanta lucked into number one and has Trae/Jalen and other pieces/assets.. Houston has enough youth and Brooklyn’s picks. The other teams are actually pushed to win now.

Brooklyn would be much better off trying to come out of the rebuild after the 2026 draft versus trying to wait it out and/or rebuild on the fly. And that door should close if Mitchell actually extends. Their extra picks look so much better if they start conveying while Brooklyn has drafted on top 5 two straight years and hopefully has a young core developing.

And Houston has no reason to leverage themselves out of a good deal with unrealistic ideas and I don’t think they would in real life.

There would be a reasonable middle IMO. Just not usually found here.

[LarsV8]

Bridges is a role player.

Green or #3 or 27 Nets picks.

Any one.

You don't get to keep the pick swap next year if you want Bridges.

Nets have no reason the help you by tanking for nothing in return.

25 pick is going nowhere.

[Kiss of Death]

No, he doesn’t. And he isn’t worth anywhere near that much.

I’ll be so glad when Bridges gets traded to another team, so that all of the delusional trade proposals will finally stop.

[balsamic_ducks]

That's a wild valuation of Bridges.

[LarsV8]

Best outcome for Houston is Bridges is moved to another team and the Nets become worse.

I could maybe see us sending the 26 and 27 pick with expirings because that almost guarantees a top 5 pick to Houston next year.

[Xman]

All in move for Houston:
Hou gets Trae, Mikal
Bkn gets Vleet, Landale, 2026 first back, 2027 swap voided, 2025 swap voided
Atl gets 3, DFS, Schroeder, Amen, worst of phx/bkn 2025 first: Atl pivots around top picks.
Bkn does quick one year rebuild.

Hou gets Trae to play pick and roll with Sengun, with Jalen as additional scoring. Three 3&D guys around them in Jabari, Brooks, Mikel. Plus Eason and Whitmore around them. Adams as big man backup in playoffs. That would be a team worth burning picks and Amen to get.

[TheNetsFan]

All in move for Houston:
Hou gets Trae, Mikal
Bkn gets Vleet, Landale, 2026 first back, 2027 swap voided, 2025 swap voided
Atl gets 3, DFS, Schroeder, Amen, worst of phx/bkn 2025 first: Atl pivots around top picks.
Bkn does quick one year rebuild.

Hou gets Trae to play pick and roll with Sengun, with Jalen as additional scoring. Three 3&D guys around them in Jabari, Brooks, Mikel. Plus Eason and Whitmore around them. Adams as big man backup in playoffs. That would be a team worth burning picks and Amen to get.

This is terrible for Brooklyn. Mikal, DFS, Schroder and a pick for a different pick, 2 voided swaps and essentially filler?

[CBA]

Bridges is a role player.

Green or #3 or 27 Nets picks.

Any one.

You don't get to keep the pick swap next year if you want Bridges.

Nets have no reason the help you by tanking for nothing in return.

I think this is a poor way of looking at the 2025 pick considering the Nets just gave up the #3 pick in this draft and have no abundantly clear path to improvement. The base case is they are swapping a lottery pick for a late first; consider that a sunk cost.

[Jadoogar]

Definitely not. Bridges is a very good complimentary player but who's the all-nba talent that's leading this team?

[babyjax13]

All in move for Houston:
Hou gets Trae, Mikal
Bkn gets Vleet, Landale, 2026 first back, 2027 swap voided, 2025 swap voided
Atl gets 3, DFS, Schroeder, Amen, worst of phx/bkn 2025 first: Atl pivots around top picks.
Bkn does quick one year rebuild.

Hou gets Trae to play pick and roll with Sengun, with Jalen as additional scoring. Three 3&D guys around them in Jabari, Brooks, Mikel. Plus Eason and Whitmore around them. Adams as big man backup in playoffs. That would be a team worth burning picks and Amen to get.

This is terrible for Brooklyn. Mikal, DFS, Schroder and a pick for a different pick, 2 voided swaps and essentially filler?

Given how bad Brooklyn would be if they traded Mikal, getting such a large degree of control over their future drafts back is fantastic.

IMO, I won't go as far as to say choose 1 of Green/3/Nets 26 1st, I think one plus one of the swaps extinguished is probably the right answer. Brooklyn would need to start adding Phoenix picks to get complete control of their draft picks back, and I think they should do it. IMO that might look like (b/c the Brooklyn picks are more valuable than the Phoenix picks b/c Brooklyn is essentially guaranteed to be bad):

Base trade
BRK trades: Mikal Bridges, Day'Ron Sharpe
HOU trades: Jock Londale, Jae'Sean Tate, Steven Adams, 2025 swap extinguished, 2026 BRK 1st

Brooklyn gets all their future picks returned

BRK trades: Mikal Bridges, Day'Ron Sharpe, 2027 PHX 1st, lower of 2029 DAL/PHX/BRK 1st
HOU trades: Jock Londale, Jae'Sean Tate, Steven Adams, 2025 swap extinguished, 2026 BRK 1st, 2027 swap extinguished

Brooklyn gets all their picks returned

BRK trades: Mikal Bridges, Day'Ron Sharpe, 2027 PHX 1st, 2027 PHI 1st (1-8 thru 2028, otherwise 2 2nds), 2029 PHX 1st, 2029 DAL 1st
HOU trades: Jock Londale, Jae'Sean Tate, Steven Adams, 3, 2025 swap extinguished, 2026 BRK 1st, 2027 swap extinguished

I think option #2 is the best one for Brooklyn. For Houston, I think option 3 opens up the most future trade opportunities while ensuring that there are minutes to develop they young guys.


VanVleet/Thompson
Green/Whitmore/Bridges
Bridges/Eason/Brooks
Smith/Thompson
Sengun/Sharpe
+ 3 (if not doing the last option)

They'll have to do a consolidation trade with probably Brooks or VanVleet + one of Green/Eason/Whitmore, but the team is better & deep (though not a contender).

[pipfan]

I think there's a deal here
Hou sends JGreen, Eason and '26 pick back to BRK along with '27 swap
Hou gets Bridges

Hou drafts Sheppard at #3 and goes with
FVV/Sheppard
Bridges/Thompson
Brooks/Whitmore
Smith/JGreen
Sengun/Adams

That's a nice team, lots of defense and should be enough offense. Plus a nice mix of young and old

BRK gets their '26/'27 picks back and adds 2 nice young players to build with. Green put up big numbers to close the year, and could be ready to take a big step. Eason is a nice forward to build with as well

[JRoy]

No.

Is there an all star on the roster?