Dec 12, 2012; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Rockets center Omer Asik (3) argues a call against the Washington Wizards during the first quarter at the Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Thomas Campbell-USA TODAY Sports

As soon as Emeka Okafor became sidelined for an unknown period of time, it was obvious that the Washington Wizards needed to acquire a center to fill the void. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports is reporting that the Wizards attempted to acquire Omer Asik from the Houston Rockets in a deal involving injured big man Emeka Okafor:

Houston and Washington did discuss a deal involving Asik, league sources said, but the Wizards ultimately acquired Phoenix’s Marcin Gortat to fill its hole at center. The Rockets had no interest in taking back center Emeka Okafor, who could be lost for the season because of a neck injury.

After failing to acquire Asik, the Wizards settled for the second best option who obviously became Marcin Gortat. Although Gortat is considered a better offensive player than Asik, the Wizards have struggled on the defensive side of the floor which is an area where Asik trumps the Polish big man.

Omer Asik doesn’t seem to pleased about taking a back seat to Dwight Howard, but the Rockets are adamant about not trading him. Even though he’s still on the Rockets roster, I think trading Asik is an inevitability and will likely happen sooner rather than later.

Regardless, it’s nice to see the Wizards active in trade discussions. If they continue to lose games at this rate, even though their schedule will get considerably weaker in the coming weeks, we could potentially see more talks come up in the rumor mill.