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Marquese Chriss wants Rockets to play him or trade him

Bill Baptist / National Basketball Association / Getty

Marquese Chriss wants the Houston Rockets to either find him more playing time or trade him somewhere he'd have an opportunity to earn rotation minutes, his agent told Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.

The Phoenix Suns dealt Chriss to the Rockets last summer. The 21-year-old is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season.

"Marquese didn't ask to be traded to Houston," said his agent, Aaron Goodwin. "The Rockets are a great organization and the kid has done everything they've asked of him to get on the floor. If it's not going to happen there, we just want him to be treated fairly."

Goodwin says he's in talks with the Rockets about his client, though the franchise wouldn't comment on the matter to Haynes.

Chriss, the No. 8 pick in the 2016 draft, has only appeared in 15 games this season. He's averaging career lows in minutes (6.7), points (1.9), and rebounds (1.8).

In Phoenix, Chriss was usually a starter. He averaged 21.2 minutes, 8.5 points, and 4.8 rebounds per game for the Suns while shooting 43.5 percent from the field.

"He's on a really good team that has two or three guys ahead of him. That's about the only thing," Rockets head coach Mike D'Antoni said earlier in January. "He's a good kid and he works hard. It's just not his time yet."

It looked like Chriss might have gotten a chance to earn consistent playing time when center Clint Capela suffered a thumb injury Jan. 13 that's set to rule him out for four-to-six weeks.

Instead, Houston signed free-agent forward Kenneth Faried on Jan. 21. He's averaged 30.8 minutes in four games, while Chriss hasn't played in the team's last three matchups.

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