Asik Asks Rockets For Trade, Request Denied

9:24pm: Brian Windhorst of ESPN says Houston has informed Asik that they currently do not intend to deal him.

6:46pm: According to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle, two individuals with knowledge of the situation report that Omer Asik has asked to be traded. It’s not much of a surprise that the Turkish center has seen a reduced role after the Rockets added Dwight Howard this past summer, and there have been questions about how Asik might struggle with relinquishing the type of role he had last season. The tipping point may have come during Wednesday night’s loss against Philadelphia, in which he came off the bench for the first time in 96 games and logged just four minutes.

Feigen notes from one of his sources that the trade request was delivered within the past 48 hours. While Asik and his agent Andy Miller would not directly comment on the report, Miller had this to say:

““(The) situation is very frustrating right now and we’re trying to work through it…For Omer, the objective has always been to continue to develop and grow as a player. That’’s why we came to Houston in the first place. If that objective can’’t be met, if we can’’t get the right platform to grow and contribute as a player, it’’s certainly frustrating.””

The 27-year-old center started in 82 regular season games for the Rockets in 2012/13, averaging 10.1 PPG, 11.7 RPG, and 1.1 BPG in 30.0 MPG. Through nine games this season, Asik has started in eight contests but has been limited to 20.7 minutes a game thus far. This isn’t the first time in which he’s tried to ask for a deal out of Houston, as we relayed two reports back in early July that the 7’0 center had been seeking a trade. It’s worth noting that the Pelicans were considered to be a strong suitor for Asik over the summer, and Yahoo Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski had tweeted that a potential deal at the time would have been centered on Ryan Anderson.

As per Feigen, the Rockets currently do not have any trade in the works, and a deal would be more likely in the coming months than in days.

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