Rockets center Omer Asik has requested a trade, according to a report in the Houston Chronicle. Asik played just four minutes in the team’s loss to the 76ers on Wednesday. While the Rockets aren’t looking to deal Asik at the moment, multiple sources said the Raptors are one team that’s already highly interested.
Asik didn’t play in Houston’s win against New York, although it isn’t clear whether it was because of his trade request.
The Raptors would be an odd choice to be interested in Asik, since they already have Valanciunas. It would create a similar situation for Asik as he has right now in Houston and neither Asik or Valanciunas have the quickness to step out and defend most of the face-up power forwards around the league.
Plus, Casey can barely find enough time for Valanciunas, so I’m not sure how he would be able to find time for both Valanciunas AND Asik, especially with his penchant for going small. And while the Raptors could use a backup center, I’m not sure what the Raptors would have that Houston would want.
There’s no way they would take back Lowry, after his contentious history there, and they would have no need for Gay or DeRozan with James Harden and Chandler Parsons on the roster (plus I can’t see their famously advanced stats driven GM, Daryl Morey, as viewing them as very valuable).
The only possible asset the Raptors have that I can see Houston wanting is Amir Johnson, and I’m not sure I see the sense in trading the Raptors’ starting power forward and his very affordable salary, for a center that will likely be unhappy in reserve role, as he currently is in Houston.
It could be the Raptors have some sort of a multi-team deal in the works. Free agents signed over the summer aren’t available to trade for another month, which may be why Houston is willing to wait to trade Asik.
We’ll all have to wait and see, it seems.
