8:27pm: The trade is official, according to press releases from both the Celtics and Rockets. As expected, Houston has officially waived guards D.J. Augustin and Armoni Brooks in order to complete the deal.
2:03pm: The Rockets are sending Daniel Theis back to the Celtics, Kelly Iko of The Athletic reports (via Twitter). Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets that it will be for a package including Dennis Schröder.
Sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link) that Enes Freedom and Bruno Fernando are also be headed to Houston in the deal. Woj reports that the Rockets will waive Freedom (via Twitter).
After sending Bol Bol and PJ Dozier to Orlando, agreeing to trade Josh Richardson and Romeo Langford to San Antonio in exchange for Derrick White, and now dealing three players for one, the Celtics have opened five roster spots today and figure to be aggressive on the buyout market.
Theis, 29, started his NBA career in Boston, appearing in parts of four season with the club prior to being traded to Chicago at last season’s deadline.
He signed a four-year, $35.6MM contract with Houston as a free agent last summer, with the 2024/25 season being a team option. It was a strange signing for a rebuilding Rockets team that had just used two first-round picks on young big men Alperen Sengun and Usman Garuba. Theis had fallen out of the team’s rotation as it prioritized youth, averaging 8.4 points and 5.0 rebounds through 26 games (22.5 minutes).
Theis will provide a major defensive upgrade over Freedom and should see some backup center minutes for his old team. Obviously, the Celtics have a high level of familiarity with the German big man, and he’s been teammates with the majority of the roster after just being dealt away last year.
For the Rockets, the move is mostly about clearing their books. Schröder is having another decent year, averaging 14.4 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 4.4 assists through 49 games (29.2 minutes), but he’s on an expiring $5.9MM contract, which was the main appeal. Freedom and Fernando are also in the final year of their respective deals.
Fernando can become a restricted free agent this summer if Houston tenders him a qualifying offer, but that seems unlikely given the limited contributions he’s provided this point in his career. Still, the Rockets get a look at 23-year-old big man to see if they want to keep him around beyond this season.
It will be interesting to see if a market develops for Schröder this summer after he failed to secure the large contract he was hoping for in 2021. I suspect he’ll still fall in the mid-level exception range, as not many teams will have cash to spend on free agents in 2022.
I think overall the Celtics met most of their goals going into today. We’ll see how it all turns out, but I think the roster works better today than it did yesterday.
Agreed
But Celtics offer a first round pick
I like the Theis and White pickups but the team just opened up five roster spots while moving out seven players. Pritchard/Nesmith should definitely see more playing time now which is a plus.
That decision not to accept the Lakers offer must be keeping him up at night.
And same for the Lakers as Westbrook has been a nightmare.
Lakers need a big trade
As big as possible
As many as possible
Are Celtic not chronically low on depth now?
White and Kanter in.
Richardson, Langford, Schröder, Freedom and Fernando all out (aswell as Dozier and Bol).
I mean they’ve been rolling with an 8 man rotation lately anyway. Only two of the guys shipped out were in the rotation and the new guys will take those spots. Gives them room to add buyout players.
There’s already talk of Houston buying out Enes & Bruno so who knows,we may see one or both back in green soon.
Then there’s a possibility of Sam Hauser getting his two way contract turned into an NBA deal for the rest of season as one move and bringing back Jabari Parker could be another.
NBA rules prevent them from signing with the team that traded them away until the offseason.
whiplash.thanks,wasn’t sure on that one. Looks like they’ll have plenty of auditions on 10day contracts then. Luckily we’re only talking about the back-end of the roster.
Please no Parker
I’m all for Parker as the 14th-15th man on the roster especially on a team that is almost entirely built on defense. He’s capable of getting you buckets in short stints if needed and worse case scenario you might not even play him. We’re talking FIVE roster spots to fill here.
Kanter = Freedom…
Whoops meant Theis in the “in” line.
The wrong ex-Celtic big.
Hello White. Hello Theis. Good bye Richardson, Langford, Schroeder, Freedom, Fernando, Bol and Dozier. How many roster spots were the Celtics trying to open?
I like the White trade. But why Theis?
Brad Stevens must love him I guess.
other teams weren’t going into the bonus quickly enough I guess…
Cs need size and defense. White unseeds Schroeder, but I think Schroeder could’ve netted back more. Maybe there weren’t many takers. Theis could make a bigger impact. I thought the Clips and Cs could’ve been good trade partners.
Would have preferred Ibaka to Theis even if he didn’t play as much.
Knicks really going to stand pat this deadline. Interesting maneuver.
Celtics should bring back IT and Jabari
Why did Schroder stay with Houston? His contract didnt have positive value for a contender?
Or was he still moved to another team but not yet announced?
Will Houston buy him out? Hope to get something via sign and trade in the off-season?
I could see Schroeder be a buyout even as silly as that sounds. Say he goes to Dallas, Toronto, Utah, Cleveland, maybe LAC. He could improve his worth in games that matter.
I’d really like to see the Warriors pick-up Freedom once he is bought out. With their fragile front court, he would make a nice insurance policy with his size, rebounding and ability to be a team player. His political world views would not be nearly the distraction as it would for some teams due to the already outspoken nature of players and coaches already there.
I wish understood this. I knew Rockets would send Theiss out and probably let Brooks an Augustin go. But the players we get but might not even use. I just do not see Schroeder sticking. But kept the key people for Team. Probably do things over off season. Also see if Silas sticks during off season. I myself would want someone more strong to work with team.
Someone that can really focus on getting the team in shape.Not someone that passes things off as a learning curve. I really want to start seeing something better. Turnovers, and stupid ones at that, missing free throws and someone to shoot threes. Yes some on team shoot them but not all go in. Yes we are rebuilding but want to start to see something. Some players still question if will be Rockets going forward.
But at least Theis is going somewhere. Sorry was not a fit here.
Cutting Theis contract is the main goal for Hou and for Brad Stevens trading again for an old Celticss player.
Damn i would have love to see Freedom in a chinese new year Rockets jersey !!!
Please Lakers pick Enes in the buy out
lol that would be pretty funny
Like they would risk the repercussions from China. Not sure if any team risks it…
Houston gets 3 buyout of players. Interesting