The Houston Rockets’ season got off to a rocky start when superstar James Harden skipped the first week of team workouts and demanded a trade, saying the team “isn’t good enough.”
He was onto something.
Houston reeled off a vindictive post-Harden four-game win streak behind emerging star forward Christian Wood. When they were 11-10 on Jan. 28 , John Wall boldly said: “Once the trade happened, we got the team that we wanted and guys that wanted to be here.”
The Rockets have lost 16 straight games since then — the longest losing streak since the franchise joined the NBA in 1968.
Of course, the losing streak started on Feb. 6 when Wood injured his ankle, and he has not returned. Rockets coach Stephen Silas said the 25-year-old might return against the Atlanta Hawks tomorrow.
Expect a firesale from the rebuilding Rockets with the March 25 trade deadline looming. P.J. Tucker is already a “healthy scratch” waiting for a trade, and Wood is reportedly the only “untouchable” player on the roster.