A trade that has been quite expected to happen since the offseason is closer to going through, as the Houston Rockets aren’t going to wait much longer with Omer Asik, having deals lined up with the Atlanta Hawks, Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers and the Philadelphia 76ers.

Asik hasn’t played since December 2, and has since been out with an injury that most assume isn’t real. He has been frustrated about losing his starting spot, and probably doesn’t want to be on the floor too much. The Rockets are complying by not letting him play 10-15 minutes a game, which he didn’t put the best effort in anyway.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports, the Rockets want to get a deal by the end of the week. They’ve already seen an offer they are quite happy with from the 76ers, but are also waiting for more to come in, as it seems more teams are trying to make a last minute move for the Turkish center before anything is finalized.

One of the most talked about options involved a three-team trade that includes the Celtics and the 76ers. It will mean the Rockets getting either Brandon Bass or Thaddeus Young, as their main goal is looking for a power forward who they feel good about playing next to Dwight Howard. However, getting any of the two will mean their cap options to get a max contract player next season or anything close to that evaporate.

It seems the league has been separated into the few teams actually trying to win something this season, and all the rest, who are either worried about cap flexibility or are in advanced rebuilding and tanking mode, and are only about acquiring every draft pick possible, getting younger, and getting rid of long term contracts. The Rockets probably know deep inside that they aren’t good enough to win the title this season, but instead of moving both Asik and Lin for picks and youth, they’re trying, from the looks of it, to improve a problematic issue for them, although it does leave them without a backup center.