The Houston Rockets are making a lot of phone calls to trade one of Clint Capela, Eric Gordon and P.J. Tucker for a future first-rounder which they hope to put in a possible deal with the Philadelphia 76ers to introduce All-Star forward Jimmy Butler, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski and Zach Lowe.

It has been no secret that Houston wanted Butler, especially after the disappointing series against the Golden State Warriors. Since the team could not collect enough cap space, they were trying to reach a sign-and-trade deal with Philadelphia. According to Woj, Houston are willing to put two of Capela, Gordon and Tucker in the trade.

However, Butler's will aside, the 76ers want to keep Butler and they can easily ruin the Rockets' hope by signing a five-year, 190-million-U.S.-dollar maximum deal with the 29-year-old. Even if they accept the Rockets' proposal, in which the 76ers sign a four-year, 140-million-U.S.-dollar contract with Butler, receiving two starting players is not good enough to let Butler go. That's why the Rockets are trying to sweeten the pot with a possible first-round pick into the negotiation.

Of course it is still hopeful of pulling the trade since Philadelphia have some difficult decisions to make this summer. Three of their core players, Butler, Tobias Harris and J.J. Reddick, will become free agents. If Philadelphia want keep them all, not only will they have to pay luxury tax, but also their salaries will lock the team's payrolls, leaving little room for them to sign 3-pointer shooters to improve their franchise. By the way, lack of enough shooters was one of the major reasons that Philadelphia lost the series against the Toronto Raptors last season. Therefore, the team can be convinced if Houston make a good offer.

Nonetheless, Houston should think this through before making the decision: Is it worth it to trade Butler with half of their starting unit? If they land Butler, next season they will have three effective maximum contracts: 37.8 million U.S. dollars (James Harden), 38.5 million U.S. dollars (Chris Paul) and 32.7 million U.S. dollars (Butler). The total salaries of the three already reached 109 million U.S. dollars, which was the expected salary cap for the 2019-20 season. Where will Houston find extra space to put at least 13 names onto their player-list without paying the luxury tax – the team's owner Tilman Fertitta has made it very clear with his actions that luxury tax must be avoided.

Butler's health and contract length will raise some eyebrows, too. His physical, aggressive play style is both health-reliant and health-consuming. Since Butler joined the NBA in 2011, he only had two seasons in which he played over 70 games. When he cannot contribute as usual, his salaries will grow bigger year by year. The Rockets already have Paul for that and they don’t need another similar problem.

Moreover, it's understandable that Houston want to get rid of Capela because of his disappointing performance last season and his uncomfortably big contract (four years of 74 million U.S. dollars left). However, Gordon could drop 16.2 points per game last season (17.8 points in the playoffs) and he will only make 14 million U.S. dollars next season – there's no way you can find such a worthy deal with any other player. As for Tucker, only three things need to be pointed out: First, he is the best defensive player Houston last season; second, he is the most reliable corner-3-pointer shooter of the league last season; third, he has two years of contract which are only worth 16.2 million U.S. dollars.