Despite sitting in second place in the Western Conference and boasting a haul of future draft picks, the Houston Rockets don’t seem like they will put themselves in the market for De’Aaron Fox.

On the latest episode of The Hoop Collective Podcast (starts at 16:05 mark), ESPN’s Tim Bontemps noted there’s no sense the Rockets will attempt to pursue the 27-year-old.

“I checked in after the Shams spoke to De’Aaron Fox thing,” he said. “I think this summer, depending on how things played out, Fox would have been a serious consideration for them. But again, I don’t think the Rockets are going to get involved here.”

ESPN’s Shams Charania reported on Tuesday that the Sacramento Kings are expected to open trade talks involving Fox prior to the NBA trade deadline on Feb. 6 in part because he has not shown a willingness to sign a long-term extension.

One potential complicating factor for interested teams is Fox and his representatives have a target destination in mind, with Charania citing the San Antonio Spurs being among the clubs believed to be atop his preferred list.

There’s always the possibility that Fox gets traded to a club that’s not the Spurs, settles in nicely and decides to sign a new contract. But if the organization doesn’t receive any assurance ahead of time, it’s hard to imagine the front office feeling comfortable giving up all that it would take to get Fox from the Kings.

The Rockets are one of the few teams that could almost certainly meet Sacramento’s trade demands without really thinking that much about it. They have 10 first-round draft picks between 2025 to ’31, including two potentially extremely valuable selections in ’27 when they have swap rights with the Brooklyn Nets and an unprotected pick from the Phoenix Suns.

This would also seem like the time for Houston to make a big move that would fortify its status as a top-tier contender in the Western Conference. Head coach Ime Udoka’s team is currently second in the West with a 32-14 record on the strength of an elite defense.

If the Rockets could find a go-to scoring option for their offense, they would have the ingredients to at least challenge a team like the Oklahoma City Thunder.

There will almost certainly come a point when the Rockets want to cash in with a major move using their draft capital, but they may be preaching patience right now because the free-agent class of 2026 looks very strong at this point.

Fox is under contract through the 2025-26 season. He’s averaging 25.2 points on 46.8 percent shooting, 6.2 assists and 5.0 rebounds per game in 43 starts for the Kings this season.

The Kings have been playing much better under interim head coach Doug Christie. They are 11-4 in 15 games since firing Mike Brown and have moved within two games of the Los Angeles Clippers for the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference.