The Rockets are a team in the rebuilding phase, and from now on, their rebuilding will take years. But the good news is that there are still a lot of veteran players in the Rockets who can be put on the shelves and exchanged for valuable chips.
In contrast, the Raptors have also entered the stage of needing to rebuild the core lineup after winning the championship trophy in 2019, of course, the current Raptors definitely still have a good team, and what they really need is to continue to strengthen the depth of the lineup and star talent in the offseason stage.
According to the advice of the US media Brett Siegel, the Rockets are fully capable of promoting the following deals with the Raptors this offseason:
Raptors get: Christian Wood
Rockets get: Presches Achuva, Malachi Flynn, Ken Birch, 2023 first-round picks (from raptors, lotto protection), 2025 second-round picks (from raptors)
If the Raptors want to pursue Christian Wood without giving up on any of their core players, then they need to sacrifice some young players. Wood still has a $14.3 million contract next season, so the Raptors will struggle to find a player who can match that contract without giving up their core players.
Because of this, putting players like Achuva, Flynn and Ken Birch on the shelves is still a good plan, plus chips for future draft picks, which should be enough to attract the Rockets' interest.
After getting Wood, this also allows the Raptors to have better interior strength and starting lineup, although such a lineup still lacks some star talent, but it should also be enough to give the Raptors a better competitive position in the Eastern Conference, and may even regain the opportunity to attack the championship under Leonard in 2019 after getting another All-Star player.