Rockets GM Daryl Morey Says Team Will Keep 'Key People' Amid Trade Rumors

Following a report claiming the Houston Rockets may look to shake up their roster this offseason, general manager Daryl Morey set the record straight Thursday and said the team is content with its core.

"We're going to keep all of our key people next year and be aggressive if we can find better," Morey said, via Fox 26's Mark Berman.

"We're not changing to change," Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta added. "If we can improve ourselves, we're gonna improve ourselves. But we love our starting five."

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported Wednesday that Morey has made the "entire roster and future draft picks" available in trade talks following a second-round exit. Per Wojnarowski, the possibility of trading 2017-18 NBA MVP James Harden is "extremely limited," while moving nine-time All-Star Chris Paul or center Clint Capela may be more realistic.

Wojnarowski wrote the Harden-Paul dynamic had its "challenges" this season. That follows a report by Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium that revealed Harden and Paul exchanged words regarding ball distribution following a season-ending Game 6 loss to the Golden State Warriors earlier this month.

Just last year, the Rockets won an NBA-best 65 games and held a 3-2 series lead over the Warriors in the Western Conference Finals. However, they couldn't overcome Paul's Game 5 hamstring injury, falling to the eventual champs in seven games.

They couldn't build on that success this season.

Houston got off to a slow start in 2018-19 but finished fourth in the Western Conference at 53-29. Unfortunately for Harden and Co., that set up a second-round showdown with Golden State. Even while playing without two-time Finals MVP Kevin Durant for the last contest-plus, the Warriors pulled out a six-game victory.

It's clear the Rockets have work to do if they're going to take down the current Warriors, but given Durant and Klay Thompson could become free agents this summer, keeping its core intact could allow Houston to be a legitimate contender next season. And that's Morey's plan, though he acknowledged he would look to upgrade the rotation.

"If there is a trade out there that helps us, great," Morey said, via Berman.