The Rockets are shipping out two young players still on their rookie scale deals, center Usman Garuba and point guard TyTy Washington, plus two future second-round draft picks and $1.1MM in cash considerations, to the Hawks in exchange for the draft rights to 2017 No. 60 pick Alpha Kaba, per Shams Charania of The Athletic and Lauren Williams of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Twitter links).
The picks the Hawks will be receiving are the Timberwolves’ 2025 second-round selection and Houston’s own 2028 second-rounder, per Williams. Atlanta has trade exceptions available to absorb Garuba and Washington without sending out any of the team’s own players.
Garuba, 21, might be able to carve out legitimate rotation minutes for a reconfigured Hawks frontline missing longtime starting power forward John Collins, who is being sent to the Jazz. The 6’8″ big man appeared in 75 games off the bench for a rebuilding Houston team last year, his second NBA season. He logged averages of 3.0 PPG on .486/.407/.617 shooting splits, 4.1 RPG and 0.9 APG in 12.9 MPG.
Upon being drafted out of Kentucky with the No. 29 pick last summer, the 6’3″ Washington played sparingly for Houston as a rookie in 2022/23, averaging 4.7 PPG, 1.5 APG and 1.5 RPG in just 31 contests. He posted much more robust numbers with Houston’s G League affiliate, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, averaging 26.6 PPG, 7.6 APG, 6.6 RPG and 1.6 SPG.
Kaba, a 6’10” power forward/center, is currently playing for Montenegrin club KK Budućnost and seems unlikely to ever play at the NBA level.
For Atlanta, this appears to be an asset-gathering move, as the team adds future draft equity and two intriguing young prospects under cheap team control.
As for the Rockets, Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype tweets that Houston now has carved out $29MM in available space under the salary cap. The team also opens up a couple extra roster spots and now has 11 players on guaranteed contracts for 2023/24, including Fred VanVleet, whose deal isn’t yet official.
Never have understood drafting players who obviously will never play in the nba. The nba draft system is god awful
Guys get drafted in every sports draft that never end up playing. The NBA Draft system is fine.
Rockets traded J Allen to Cavs for Washington?
Both Rockets players are first round picks, and now trade them for ….
Why?
Rockets fans are mad about this crazy trade – two first round picks for nothing (why Rockets add cash?)
The value of these former 2 Firsts = Okongwu
Just what I guess (something big is coming to Rockets)
Rockets get Harden, Tucker and House
76ers get Green, Porter, Tate and big salary cap
Rockets GM is very smart
That might be the dumbest trade offer you have ever prosper you bot.
Honestly.
ByBy
Washington?
Never been a big Garuba fan but he might look better close up & he is cheap & just coming into his prime. TyTy def fits as a possible 3rd lead guard behind Trae/DJ. Should be an interesting competition bw him & our rookie Kobe Bufkin for that role
He has some Draymondish qualities to him, but he needs to play more, and hopefully foul less, and be less telegraphing offensively, leading to turnovers
This a dump by Rockets. TyTy alone is worth it. Don’t get this at all.
I personally liked Nix better than TyTy, and they got rid of him too. They need a guard that can playmake and defend next to Green and Porter, but I guess they continued along the way of more guys that need the ball in their hands instead
They also still dont have true wings. They have guards and a bunch of 4s and 5s, which I guess now they moved 1 of those guys with Garuba
Nix was garbage.
Rockets and their cap could find themselves useful in the trade market
You’d think something else is in the works. Seems odd to add draft picks and money to drop tyty and Garuba. I’ll wait and see what happens before reacting to this trade
Using 7 FRPs in two years on incoming rookies has its consequences. Particularly when they’re being brought into the HOU free for all.
Still, it’s confusing. How can guys generate negative value so quickly? Giving up SRPs and cash to shed the salary of recent FRPs is unusual to say the least, particularly when they’re making only slightly above minimum.
Is France popular for players with Draft. I can see sending these 2 out but will they use this guy or will he be bait for another player they want and more
Seems a bit strange when they already have a lot of cap space even after signing FVV. They must have someone else in mind, though other targets are signing elsewhere.
Curious who could be trying to get with this move. Neither player was part of future. Lopez is staying with Bucks. Is there someone strong Houston wants. I do not know out there will be good to get. Guess Capella did not come back.
This is very interesting. I really like Garuba. I thought he was redundant for Houston with multiple other guys at his positions, a couple of which with similar skillset. He is still raw, but I would like to see him get more opportunity in the right situation
He kind of has some redundancy with Jalen Johnson though
I think something is going to end up happening between Capela and Okongwu
TyTy is interesting in some ways, but suffers from the same issue a lot of undersized guards do. I had other guards over him in the draft last year, and wasnt nearly as high on him as some people. He has the midrange pullup/step back/off hop/side stepdown, elite floater, quick attacks off the catch against closeouts. He controls the pace well, good pick and roll decision maker, good off handoffs, eyes up in transition. Makes good entry passes, in my opinion, and makes the right play/is a ball mover, and has upside to expand his range. Plays with good effort defending pick and roll, and plays decent defense at guard, with good positioning…However, he need to improve his explosiveness as a limited athlete, paint touches/rim pressure, burst around defenders/getting to the rim, creating space, finishing below the rim. He also needs to improve his defensive consistency and awareness, and his shooting range/consistency.
I liked him more than some other similar guards, but he is one of those guys you wish was better at 1 or 2 things or was slightly taller, b/c I think those are the things that could make him more useful in a rotation.
I think they need shooting around him and length and defense. As a depth guy for this roster, it probably works, but I do still want to see them add another shooter at the 2/3 spots. For Houston, I’m basically just saying he is movable b/c of all their other guards, and I thought so before the FVV deal
Garuba needs a full yr in G-league. And strong development. He’s got potential. Rockets didn’t do it.
I kinda low key really dug garuba as well but your right he needed to land in like Mia or Indy or something – Hou was just too chaotic for a player that needed refinement abd structure above all else
Tyler Herro coming to Houston in a 3-team deal for Damian? Herro makes $30 million/year. Just saying.
Going after any of Houston’s young players who haven’t performed well to this point isn’t a bad strategy considering how bad Stone was and the complete lack of a healthy development environment there, but particularly at a cost as low as this. I doubt either player ever becomes a starter, but they have the potential to be viable backups.
They should trade Smith jr and something for J Grant in Portland
Good move by Houston. Atlanta is clueless again. I bet they would trade D Wilkins for D Manning again
You know what we should have Wilkins sign for a year to shoot jump shots with Trae Young. All time scoring leader in hawks history would be fun to watch
Lopez coming to Houston!