1 player Rockets must trade in 2024 NBA offseason

A lot of teams have tried to find their version of Draymond Green over the years. Josh Hart has emerged as the New York Knicks’ facsimile of the Warriors’ future Hall-of-Famer. Players like Aaron Gordon and Jalen Johnson have shined as the Denver Nuggets and Atlanta Hawks’ version of that player. Jae’Sean Tate is not the quality of player any of those guys are, but he plays a similar style.

Tate had his moments as a key contributor over the years, but that hasn’t been the case this season. After the team drafted Whitmore and Thompson and signed players like Jeff Green and Dillon Brooks, Tate found himself on the fringes of Houston’s rotations. That only got exacerbated by him getting injured recently. He suffered an ankle injury a few games ago and hasn’t played double-digit minutes in since March 25th. Tate hasn’t played at least 20 minutes in consecutive games since early January.

Tate’s play this season has been pretty consistent with the standard he’s set the last few year, so it isn’t as if performance is why he’s been stuck to the bench. While his points and assists per-36 minutes have gone down this year, part of that is due to Tate playing garbage-time minutes and not accruing any needless stats in that time. He’s still shooting roughly the same from the field and on two-point shots and is cleaning the glass at roughly the same rate. He’s still a versatile defender who can shift up and down the lineup on that end, too.

The Rockets just don’t have a big need for him at the moment. With Brooks and Smith showing they can hold up defensively sliding up the lineup, Tate’s presence just isn’t as necessary as in previous seasons. Sengun is their starting center and Jeff Green can also play either the four or the five. Jock Landale also gets minutes at center backing up Sengun. Houston just has a lot of options.

Not every team is that plush in the frontcourt; many could use Tate’s versatility off the bench. Houston could always stand to add more picks or look to package them along with Tate to add a star. The Rockets may be busy in the offseason looking to add instant upgrades. They’re a team to watch out for in 2024-25 and beyond.