The Los Angeles Lakers and Houston Rockets are expected to make a strong push to acquire Goran Dragic from the Phoenix Suns before the annual NBA trade deadline on Thursday.

Marc Stein of ESPN reported several teams are expected to call the Suns for Dragic but mentioned the Lakers and Rockets as the more active suitors of the Slovenian point guard, who was the Most Improved Player of the Year in the league last season.

The Lakers, who are looking to improve their roster as they are currently in 14th place in the Western Conference standings with their 13-40 record, have been linked to a move for Dragic over the past several weeks.

However, sources indicated that the Suns are not high on Los Angeles' assets at this point, which will likely force the Lakers to wait for Dragic to become a free agent this summer. According to Stein, the Lakers will definitely put a lucrative deal on the table for tragic -- a four-year deal within the max-contract level.

On the other hand, the Rockets are also looking to make big moves before the deadline in order to improve their title chances this season, and Dragic is on top of their list.

The Rockets, who have already acquired Josh Smith and Corey Brewer this season, believe they could still strike one more big deal before the deadline. It is unclear at this point, though, what they are planning to offer, and there is also a possibility the Rockets will just wait for the free-agency period depending on the Suns' asking price.

Dragic played in Houston during the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons before moving to Phoenix as a free agent in 2012. The 28-year-old holds no grudges against the Rockets for letting him go two years ago, telling the Houston Chronicles last month that he will consider all teams, including the Rockets, this summer.

Dragic, who is averaging 16.2 points to go along with 4.1 assists and 3.6 rebounds per game this season, became a dispensable asset for the Suns after they kept Eric Bledsoe with a five-year deal and signed Isaiah Thomas to a three-year deal worth $27 million in the offseason.

Stein added Thomas is also on trading block, but there is no way the Suns will trade both Dragic and Thomas before the deadline. When asked about making moves before Thursday, Suns president of basketball operations Lon Babby admitted they will be "active" in talks.

"I would take the fifth, generally, on any of these specific trade rumors. What I would say is I expect us to be active," Babby said when asked about the possibility of making trades before the deadline. "And what I mean by that is we're not going to just sit here and wait for the phone to ring."

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