Houston Rockets head coach Ime Udoka was asked after his team's loss to the Indiana Pacers if he's considered moving Jalen Green to a bench role. Udoka said that despite Green's struggles, that's not something he's considering.

"Obviously, with [Green] playing that way, if he was playing the other way we obviously wouldn’t struggle as much offensively and have to lean on other guys as much or play other guys minutes," Udoka said postgame. "We’ll continue to keep him confident, continue to [help] him improve in certain areas, and he’ll take a jump eventually."

Green remained in the starting lineup for the Rockets back-to-back game against the Phoenix Suns. Houston lost that home matchup, as Green scored 23 points on 8-of-20 shooting.

Houston's young guard is in the midst of a second season where his efficiency has declined. Green is shooting career-lows overall (39.4%) and on three-pointers (33.1%). He's also getting less shots and touches, as the Rockets have improved their personnel around him.

Dillon Brooks has been fined $35,000 for directing inappropriate language toward a game official and publicly criticizing the officiating, and Ime Udoka has been fined $25,000 for directing inappropriate language toward a game official, it was announced today by Joe Dumars, Executive Vice President, Head of Basketball Operations.

The incident, for which Brooks and Udoka were both assessed technical fouls and ejected, occurred with 0:38 remaining in the fourth quarter of the Rockets’ 128-119 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on Dec. 17 at Fiserv Forum.

The Houston Rockets are in the playoff picture as one of the teams with the most significant turnarounds from last season, but they are unlikely to change their approach to the any in-season moves around the trade deadline.

"We like our current group," said Rafael Stone to Kelly Iko of The Athletic. "We like the way they are playing on the court, we like the way they’re interacting. We think there’s a lot of room for improvement just in the guys we have playing better and getting better. So by no means, this year at least, are we aggressively hunting a particular deal or series of deals. Having said that, it’s kind of my job to talk to everybody and to hear what other teams are trying to do and see if there are things that make sense for both parties. And we’ll make sure we make every phone call and run out every ground ball. At least right now, we need a better sense of exactly where our team is before we start thinking, 'Oh, we need to add this.' We’ll have a better sense, honestly, a game from now, right? Like every game gives us critical information. I think it’s too early to predict how active we will or will not be at the trade deadline or in the days in between. But we are not feeling any need to do something per se. We like where this group is and mostly we want there to be internal improvement."

Almost a year ago, it was reported that James Harden was considering a return to the Houston Rockets in 2023 free agency. At the time, all parties involved denied the reports.

Now, Harden is saying that not only was returning to Houston a consideration, but that there was a meeting with the Rockets. Harden was under contract to the Philadelphia 76ers during this time.

Harden said that his representation met with Rockets coach Ime Udoka. This meeting would have had to have taken place sometime on or after April 25, as that's when Udoka was hired by Houston.

"Representation, (Rockets) head coach (Ime Udoka)," Harden told Sam Amick of The Athletic. "That was it."

Harden picked up his player option to extend his contract with the Sixers on June 29. Harden then requested a trade. He was ultimately dealt to the Los Angeles Clippers on November 1.

It was not clarified when Harden's reps met with Udoka, or if it was with permission from Philadelphia to do so. It was also not clear if Harden was a part of the meeting, or if it was only his representation meeting with Udoka.