Rockets’ trades mean no building for long term in this year’s draft.

What are the Rockets doing?

Breaking news: They are not running it back for the fifth time.

If a completely in-transition team were, the Rockets would not have traded away Robert Covington — one of their best players and strongest defenders by the end of last season — two days before the 2020 NBA draft while desperately trying to convince James Harden and Russell-Westbrook to stay in Houston.

The Rockets gave up young center Clint Capela and a first-round pick to acquire the prized Covington and foolishly indulge in small ball last February.

Now?

I have no idea what, exactly, the Rockets are doing. And neither do you. Are they retooling? Revamping? Delaying the inevitable until Harden and/or Westbrook depart via blockbuster trades?

Or (gasp) rebuilding?

The latter was the local betting favorite entering Wednesday’s draft, which lacked big names and nationwide buzz but featured the Rockets’ first first-round pick since way back in 2015.

Sam Dekker last clocked NBA minutes with Washington in 2019 and averaged 5.5 points for four teams (if you were wondering what the No. 18 overall pick of ’15 produced on the pro hardwood after ex-Rockets general manager Daryl Morey made him a Rocket).

The Rockets’ new GM, Rafael Stone, held the No. 16 overall pick of 2020 as of Monday night, Tuesday morning and Wednesday afternoon.

Fans were legitimately excited.

Heck, I was ready to be optimistic about the Rockets for the first time in a while and write an entire column about the joys of participating in the NBA’s annual rejuvenation festival.

Then 5:50 p.m. ticked on the clock, and poof, the magic of youth was gone.

ESPN reported the Rockets had sent famous ol’ No. 16 to Detroit for a future first-rounder.

Hours of national primetime television devoted to the draft instantly became pointless, again, for Rockets fans.

Trevor Ariza (remember him?) also became a Piston after spending less than 48 hours as a Rocket.

So much for the Twitter theory that the Rockets reacquired Ariza to catch Harden’s eye.

A little advice for the hometown NBA team: You can’t complain about never drafting in the first round if you keep trading away all your first-round picks.

Morey (remember him?) made a huge splash for his new team, Philadelphia, before the draft even began. He added veteran shooter Danny Green to the 76ers’ still-promising roster and offloaded veteran Al Horford’s wildly overpriced contract.

Gersson Rosas, who spent forever with the Rockets and now runs another Minnesota rebuild, stamped his rising name all over the draft, taking Anthony Edwards with the No. 1 overall pick and then becoming More y-like with move after move.

Would there be a huge Harden update?

Westbrook?

A post-draft video conference with Stone explaining everything and slowly unfolding the Rockets’ master plan in November 2020?

As of 10:30 p.m., all three answers were captured by one simple and precise word: no.

I get it.

Harden wants to form a superteam with Kevin Durant, and the Rockets are trying to, somehow, convince the longtime face of their franchise to stay.

Westbrook doesn’t want to play with Harden in Houston anymore, but No. 0 is promised $85.5 million the next two seasons and isn’t the easiest superstar to trade.

For the Rockets to get this era-defining moment right, it’s going to take time, patience, perseverance and near-perfect foresight.

But a little clarity right now would be helpful.

It would also help calm the nerves of an increasingly frayed fan base.

The Covington trade felt like the beginning of a public acknowledgement: We know we can’t compete for a title this season, and yes, we’ll probably end up eventually trading our two future Hall of Famers.

But the Rockets also increased the value of their mid-level exception to $9.3 million, allowing them to potentially be more active when free agency begins Friday.

Are they in?

Are they out?

You know this: The MLE isn’t putting this team on top of the Western Conference in 2020-21. And these Rockets are multiple big moves away from leaping over the Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers, Denver Nuggets, Milwaukee Bucks, etc., next season.

If the idea is to make the moves that will convince Harden this team can truly contend for a championship next season, we haven’t seen anything close to that yet.

How big of an impact would No. 16 have had this season?

We’ll never know.

But it’s been too long since the Rockets had a young, talented scorer whom they guided and developed.

And while we all keep waiting on Harden and Westbrook news, the Rockets will go another year without investing in themselves with the draft.