{"id":327209,"date":"2026-06-08T05:55:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T05:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/327209\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T05:55:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T05:55:11","slug":"former-houston-rockets-trade-target-is-two-games-away-from-finals-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/327209\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Houston Rockets trade target is two games away from Finals win"},"content":{"rendered":"

June 7, 2026, 2:44 p.m. CT<\/p>\n

There aren’t any former Houston Rockets<\/a> in this year’s NBA Finals, but one of Houston’s reported<\/a> trade targets at this year’s deadline is.<\/p>\n

It’s not clear if Houston ever made a formal offer for him, but the Rockets were linked to point guard Jose Alvarado at the deadline and were in contact with the New Orleans Pelicans about a potential move for him. In the end, it was the New York Knicks<\/a> who traded for Alvarado, sending back Dalen Terry and two second-round picks.<\/p>\n

It’s safe to say the move has worked out for the Knicks, with Alvarado featuring as Jalen Brunson’s primary backup during their playoff run. After New York’s dramatic 105-104 Game 2 win over the San Antonio Spurs, Alvarado and the Knicks are now two wins away from capturing the franchise’s first championship since 1973.<\/p>\n

Alvarado’s impact on Knicks<\/p>\n

When the Rockets were linked to Alvarado, the move made sense, given his three-point shooting and established defensive identity as a ball-hawk against opposing guards. Those same qualities have been true throughout New York’s playoff run, as Alvarado has energized the Knicks in his short stints while Brunson has been on the bench.<\/p>\n

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In Game 1 of the Finals, Alvarado stepped up after Jalen Brunson went down with an injury. In just 10 minutes of action, he posted 7 points on 3-for-6 shooting from the field while stabilizing the Knicks’ offense. Defensively, he also recorded a steal and grabbed 4 rebounds on the defensive glass despite his 6’0 foot frame.<\/p>\n

Through the first two games of the series, the Brooklyn native has recorded a plus\/minus of +15, highlighting his two-way impact off the bench. While it’s unlikely that Alvarado would have helped Houston get as far in the playoffs, watching him thrive with the Knicks is a reminder of how crucial bench depth will be for the Rockets next season.<\/p>\n

Not trading for Alvarado at this year’s deadline was a missed opportunity to get a head start on that heading into Year 2 of the Kevin Durant era.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"June 7, 2026, 2:44 p.m. CT There aren’t any former Houston Rockets in this year’s NBA Finals, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":327210,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[33,56,58,57,105365,9261,9262,6326,2518,9264,1593,2579,29939,184,46,216,36],"class_list":["post-327209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-accessfree","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-sourcerockets-wire","tag-sstssportsnbarockets","tag-sstsnrockets","tag-tagbasketball","tag-taghouston","tag-taghouston-rockets","tag-tagnational-sports","tag-tagnba","tag-tagnew-york-knicks","tag-tagoverall-positive","tag-tagsports-news","tag-tx","tag-typestory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=327209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327209\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/327210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}