Houston Rockets

The Houston Rockets announced big man Christian Wood is week-to-week with a right ankle sprain:

Wood has enjoyed a breakout season in his first year with the Rockets, averaging 22.0 points and 10.2 rebounds per contest.

Wood rolled his ankle in the third quarter of his team's 115-103 win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday when he was fouled on a fast break. He needed assistance to walk off the court before being escorted to the locker room on a wheelchair.

The ex-Detroit Piston suffered a right ankle sprain Jan. 20 against the Phoenix Suns. He left the game but returned in the second half, posting 20 points and 11 rebounds. However, he missed the Rockets' next three games with the injury.

Wood returned on Jan. 28 and helped the Rockets go 4-1 in their next five games, averaging 18.4 points and 9.0 rebounds during that span.

Unfortunately, the 25-year-old will be forced to miss extended time at this juncture. Players who may see extra court time include Rodions Kurucs, who replaced Wood in the lineup following the latest injury. Backup big man DeMarcus Cousins should also see more work.

Houston Rockets forward Christian Wood left Thursday's game against the Memphis Grizzlies in a wheelchair after suffering a right ankle injury.

Wood rolled his ankle when he was fouled by Ja Morant with 8:05 remaining in the third quarter. He attempted to walk to the free-throw line to take his shots before being helped to the sideline and then taken back to the locker room in a wheelchair.

The Rockets are yet to give a diagnosis on Wood's condition. Given the amount of pain he was in and the nature of the injury, it's likely Wood at least suffered a significant ankle sprain. According to The Athletic's Kelly Iko, Wood will undergo an MRI on Friday. 

Wood is in the midst of a breakout season, averaging 22.3 points, 10.4 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game after signing a three-year contract with Houston in the offseason. He's already emerged as the biggest bargain from the free-agent market, a versatile two-way player who is the ideal for what you want in a modern big.

“I believe I’ve been playing at a high level. I believe I’m one of the best bigs in the West. I think I deserve a vote," Wood recently told reporters of the All-Star selection process, where he is currently ninth among Western Conference frontcourt players.

Wood previously missed time earlier this season with a right ankle sprain, so this could be considered a recurrent issue at this point. It's at the very least a situation worth monitoring, as it's clear Wood will again be out of the lineup. 

Despite their recent success since acquiring Victor Oladipo, the Houston Rockets reportedly could move the two-time All-Star before the March 25 trade deadline.

Per ESPN's Tim Bontemps, executives around the NBA believe the Rockets might deal Oladipo.

Houston acquired Oladipo on Jan. 16 in the four-team trade that sent James Harden to the Brooklyn Nets.

The Rockets have gone 6-3 since his first game Jan. 18, including a six-game winning streak. They sit in 10th place in the Western Conference with a 10-10 record.

Despite the team's success, Oladipo has yet to find consistency on offense. He has averaged 20.8 points per game in eight starts with the Rockets but is shooting 39.6 percent with a 31.1 percent success rate from three-point range.

He is putting up 20.4 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.6 assists in 17 games between the Rockets and Indiana Pacers.

Oladipo is in the final year of his contract. The 28-year-old has yet to return to his All-Star form since rupturing his quad tendon two years ago.

While the Rockets haven't said they will enter a full-scale rebuild, Oladipo's performance and impending free agency may not make him a part of their long-term plans. He's got a strong track record to potentially make a difference for a playoff contender if a deal comes together.

The Houston Rockets are assigning Kevin Porter Jr. to the G League after acquiring him from the Cleveland Cavaliers earlier this month, as noted by ESPN's Tim MacMahon:

A first-round pick in 2019, Porter hasn't played this season. A single-car crash in Ohio in November led to a charge for improper handling of a firearm in a vehicle, though a grand jury declined to indict him on the felony charge.

Per MacMahon, Houston will take a patient approach with the USC product.

This year's G League will be played in a "bubble" environment on the Disney World campus in Orlando, Florida, much like the NBA's bubble last summer to complete the 2019-20 season.

According to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle, Porter practiced with Houston on Wednesday, though the team had not developed a plan for his return to the floor.

Head coach Stephen Silas said earlier this week:

"We're still kind of trying to work through that. He's been here and he's been great, he's been attentive.

"We've been doing individual stuff with him as well as today, he joined the team stuff. We're just integrating him slowly. We're coming up with a plan that makes sense for him and for the team. He hasn't played in a while. He's kind of just learning. He's a young kid, but he's very talented. When he first got here, we had to make sure that we're really, really smart about the structure we have put in place for him on and off the floor."

Porter will get an opportunity to prove himself in the G League where he's likely to be the focal point for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers when the season tips off Feb. 10.

The Vipers have helped produce a number of NBA players, such as Clint Capela, Garrett Temple, Monte Morris and Montrezl Harrell.

Porter could be the next player the program turns into an NBA mainstay if all goes according to plan.

The Houston Rockets have won four straight games, saw center Christian Wood return to the lineup with 22 points and 12 rebounds Thursday and seem to be having fun as the overhauled roster begins to jell. 

It's hard to believe this is the same team that started out 3-6 and looked destined for a lottery pick. It's also not a coincidence things began to change for the better once Houston dealt James Harden to the Brooklyn Nets. 

Asked about why things appear on the up-and-up after a sluggish start to the year, point guard John Wall pointed to the obvious. 

"We had people who didn't want to be here," he said.

Houston (8-9) now has two high-profile players with something to prove in Wall and Victor Oladipo. Each has quickly bought into rookie head coach Stephen Silas' system and helped make the Rockets one of the more fun teams in the Western Conference. 

On Thursday, they held off the Portland Trail Blazers, 104-101, with Wood, Wall and Oladipo combining for 67 points. The people who do want to be in Houston are certainly making the most of the experience. 

Victor Oladipo is in his eighth NBA season and has already been traded three times.

That is a head-turning number for a two-time All-Star who can carry an offense and defend the opponent's best player, and he seemed to address the movement after leading the Houston Rockets to a 104-101 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday.

"It feels like people keep quitting on me," he said during an interview with the NBA on TNT crew. "But it's a part of life, and I embrace it. I'm just trying to make the most of every day."

The Orlando Magic selected Oladipo with the No. 2 pick of the 2013 NBA draft but traded him to the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2016.

OKC dealt him to the Indiana Pacers after just one season, and the Pacers moved him to Houston this season as part of the multi-team swap that sent James Harden to the Brooklyn Nets.

He looked ready to lead the Rockets to the postseason on Thursday with 25 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Houston overcame a 20-point deficit against a fellow Western Conference playoff contender, and John Wall and Christian Wood helped spearhead the attack as well.

Oladipo drilled a step-back three midway through the fourth quarter and later made perhaps the most important shot of the game with a driving layup to go up three in the final 30 seconds.

Houston is still just 8-9 but has won four in a row and seems to be coming together after the Harden trade. Oladipo will be a big part of it if the Rockets do continue this hot streak and eventually make noise in the playoffs.

It might be hard for the team to quit on him then.

Houston Rockets point guard John Wall and Washington Wizards point guard Russell Westbrook both got technicals for some animated trash-talking during Houston's 107-88 win on Tuesday.

After the game, Wall spoke with reporters about the back-and-forth between him and Westbrook.

"Trash talking. That's what two competitive guys do," Wall said. "Russ been kicking my ass for years. He's a hell of a talent. This ain't the first time we've trash talked before."

Westbrook also provided remarks to reporters:

"I don't start talking s--t. ... I just defend myself—people just say anything—especially when I know the facts. ... I think they just started talking s--t because they started to win at that time. It's all right. We play them again."

The double techs were assessed with the Rockets up 94-81 in the fourth quarter. Wall and the Rockets got the last laugh Tuesday, with the point guard dropping a team-high 24 points in the win. Westbrook had 19 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists in defeat.

Washington sent Wall, whom the Wizards took with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2010 NBA draft, to the Rockets along with a lottery-protected 2023 first-round NBA draft choice for Westbrook before the season.

Wall (COVID-19 protocols, sore left knee) and Westbrook (quad) have both missed action this year but are now back and healthy for their teams.

Neither franchise has fared well thus far, although most teams aren't even a quarter of the way through their season. The 3-10 Wizards are last place in the Eastern Conference. The 7-9 Rockets have won three straight but still sit 11th in the West.

Houston will look to continue its winning streak against the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday. The Wizards will visit the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday.

John Wall gave a succinct answer on why he felt the Washington Wizards traded him after the Houston Rockets defeated his former team, 107-88, at Toyota Center.   

"I just feel like the organization thought I was done," Wall told the Houston broadcast after dropping 24 points in the win. 

Tuesday showed that wasn't quite the case. Despite facing a minutes restriction in his second game back after missing five straight contests with a sore knee, Wall put together a strong fourth quarter to finish with 24 points, five assists and two rebounds against his long-time club. 

The point guard said he should've finished with at least 30 points and a few more assists, but the adrenaline got to him. Instead, he shot 9-of-21 from the field and 1-of-6 on three-pointers and committed three turnovers. 

He also got into a shouting match with Russell Westbrook—the former Rockets guard for whom Wall was traded—that resulted in double technical fouls late in the fourth quarter. That frame was unquestionably Wall's best even if some of his scoring was done in garbage time. 

Wall added nine points to his total in the fourth, and only a few missed layups stopped him from reaching 30. 

"It was great," Wall said of the win. "... It wasn't really nothing about proving nothing for me. I knew how hard I worked over the past two years."

Wizards fans finally got to see that hard work pay off. Wall just happened to be wearing a different jersey.

As much as the guard wanted to finish what he started in D.C., he seems at peace with where he's at—or, more specifically, where he isn't. 

"I never wanna be nowhere I'm not wanted," Wall said, "and I feel like this organization wanted me here."

That's working well for Houston, which now owns a three-game winning streak and is getting stronger by the day with only Christian Wood out of the lineup due to an ankle injury. 

The Rockets visit the Wizards on Feb. 15. The rematch will be worth watching. 

Despite speculation swirling about his long-term future with the Indiana Pacers, Victor Oladipo said he was taken by surprise upon learning of his trade to the Houston Rockets.

Oladipo told ESPN's Eric Woodyard he "had no warning" the deal was in store:

"I got traded; two days later, it was therapy time.

"They walked me through it. At the end of the day, everything happens for a reason, and you've just got to embrace change. At the end of the day, I didn't know I was getting traded. I had no inclination. I had no warning, I had no clue. So, usually when things like that happen, it means someone else is in control, and that's my lord and savior."

The Athletic's Jared Weiss reported in September that Oladipo was "looking to move on this offseason." Shortly after that, Kevin O'Connor of The Ringer reported Oladipo's desire to leave Indiana went back as far as January 2020.

The Indianapolis Star's J. Michael went so far as to report Nov. 12 the two-time All-Star spoke to opposing players on the court last year, lobbying to be traded to their teams. His agent, Aaron Turner, denied the rumor:

Oladipo also stated his desire to stay with the Pacers.

"I know there have been people saying that I have asked players to trade for me," he said to The Athletic's Shams Charania. "That's just not true, period. I love my teammates, I cherish the state of Indiana and I'm focused on leading this franchise to a title."

Oladipo winding up in Houston did feel pretty sudden. Fans were just coming to grips with the Brooklyn Nets getting James Harden when his involvement in the deal became clear. He wound up with the Rockets, while Caris LeVert was heading to the Pacers.

Still, the 28-year-old is on an expiring deal with big questions about how much he should command with his next contract. Throw in the steady stream of trade rumors, and the outcome felt inevitable.

Houston Rockets star Victor Oladipo adopted a unique technique to hit the reset button ahead of the 2020-21 NBA season.  

Oladipo, who started the season with the Indiana Pacers, explained to ESPN's Eric Woodyard on Monday how he took part in a mock funeral for the right knee in which he suffered a ruptured quad tendon in January 2019:

"I was feeling better, but my mind was so used to protecting me -- and being hesitant because of my leg -- that I had created a habit of doing that. And burying my injury and letting myself know that I'm healed, I'm stronger than ever before, it gave me the courage, the strength to actually go out there and perform and not think about the leg. Not defer as much.

"That was definitely huge for my process, especially my mental health process."

According to Woodyard, the two-time All-Star wrote a letter and listened to a prayer from pastor and motivational speaker Eric Thomas. Upon the completion of the prayer, he took the letter outside and burned it.

Oladipo struggled upon returning to the court last season. He averaged 14.5 points and 2.9 assists while shooting 39.4 percent from the floor in 19 regular-season games. His performance didn't improve much in the postseason as the Pacers got swept by the Miami Heat.

The "funeral" seems to have provided a boost. Through 12 games with the Pacers and Rockets, he's averaging 20.6 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.7 assists while shooting 41.3 percent from the field.