With the heat should be open to inquiries about Star Forward Jimmy ButlerThe Rockets have been identified multiple times as a possible landing spot for the Houston native. However, during Rafael Stone Although he couldn’t address Butler specifically, the Rockets general manager made it clear during an appearance on SiriusXM NBA Radio on Tuesday that he has no plans to pursue a star on the trade market this season (Twitter audio link).

“Of course it’s my job to be open to everything, so I won’t not do my job.” Stone said. “(But) we like this team. We definitely have no intention of changing anything and I would be shocked if anything changed this season.

“We like where we are. We want to develop our boys, period. Will I listen to other teams? Of course I will do that, that’s my job. But again, there is no part of me, no part of our decision-making process that suggests we have anything big planned now or in the near future.

“We definitely want this group to be as good as it can be this year and then we will evaluate things at the end of the year. But we really hope that this core group can take us where we want to go and that – from a transactional perspective – we are largely done.”

This message is not new. Reports from The Athletic and ESPN in recent weeks have suggested that the Rockets are spreading the word that they are not interested in breaking up their core this season. Stone is now expressing that opinion publicly and even taking it a step further by suggesting that Houston’s belief in its current roster is so strong that the team won’t even attempt to make a roster move after this season.

Whether Stone and the Rockets stick with this stance remains to be seen. It will partly depend on how the rest of the 2024/25 season goes and how the club’s young players continue to develop.

Of course, Stone’s comments and the Rockets’ position could also be a negotiating tactic. That was a point ESPN’s Tim Bontemps and Brian Windhorst made last week during their discussion of Houston’s plans on an episode of the Hoop Collective podcast.

“That’s exactly what you do when you have 19 interesting trade assets, all these draft picks and all these young guys.” Bontemps said at the time. “They say, ‘Hey, whatever good we have, we’re not sure we’re going to do anything with it.’ And then you start negotiating.”

The 16-8 Rockets, the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference, have valuable trade chips — including players and future draft picks — and are well-equipped to make a big deal if the right player is available. Seven players on the roster were selected in the first round of the last four drafts and are 23 years old or younger. Houston also has additional first-round pick and draft swap rights in both 2027 and 2029.