Houston Rockets Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Rockets To Exercise 2023/24 Options On Four Players

October 5th, 2022 at 7:12pm CST by Rory Maher

The Rockets plan to exercise their third-year team options on all four of their 2021 first-round draft picks, according to Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle (subscription required). The four players, whose salaries are set to be guaranteed for 2023/24, are Jalen Green ($9,891,480), Alperen Sengun ($3,536,280), Usman Garuba ($2,588,400) and Josh Christopher ($2,485,200).

As Feigen writes, it’s normally a formality that teams pick up the rookie scale options after first-rounders have played one season, but exercising Garuba’s after an injury-played campaign limited him to 24 appearances in ’21/22 was a little less certain. However, the No. 23 overall pick of 2021 had a strong offseason and training camp and showcased solid play at EuroBasket, helping Spain win the gold medal, Feigen notes.

Green, the No. 2 overall pick last year, averaged 17.3 PPG, 3.4 RPG and 2.6 APG on .426/.343/.797 shooting in 67 games (31.9 MPG). The 20-year-old had a slow start in ’21/22 but an excellent second half, averaging 22.1 PPG, 3.8 RPG and 3.2 APG on .476/.387/.756 shooting in 24 games (34.6 MPG) after the All-Star break. He was named to the All-Rookie First Team.

Sengun, who is set to become a full-time starter in ’22/23, had a productive rookie season on a per-minute basis but struggled with fouls, which is typical for young big men. The Turkish center averaged 9.6 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 2.6 APG, 0.8 SPG and 0.9 BPG on .474/.258/.711 shooting in 72 games (13 starts, 20.7 MPG). He was the No. 16 overall selection.

Christopher, the No. 24 overall pick of last year’s draft, also had a solid rookie campaign, averaging 7.9 PPG, 2.5 RPG and 2.0 APG on .448/.296/.735 shooting in 74 games (18.0 MPG). The combo guard is looking to improve as a decision-maker entering year two.

NBA GMs High On Cavs’ Offseason Moves, Bucks’ Title Chances

October 4th, 2022 at 11:28am CST by Luke Adams

The Cavaliers‘ acquisition of Donovan Mitchell made their offseason the most successful of any NBA team, according to the league’s general managers. In his annual survey of the NBA’s top basketball decision-makers, John Schuhmann of NBA.com writes that 41% of the GM respondents picked Cleveland as having made the best offseason moves, while 59% chose the addition of Mitchell as the move that will have the biggest impact.

The Timberwolves and Jazz were on opposite ends of one of the summer’s other blockbuster trades, but the two clubs tied for second (along with the Sixers) in the GM vote for which teams made the best overall offseason moves. Minnesota’s trade for Rudy Gobert was the second-leading vote-getter for the offseason’s most impactful single acquisition, earning 31% of the vote.

The team viewed by the majority of GMs as the title favorite for 2023 didn’t earn any votes for having the best offseason. According to Schuhmann, 43% of the poll respondents picked the Bucks to win next year’s Finals, with GMs apparently betting on continuity in Milwaukee. The Warriors (25%), Clippers (21%), and Celtics (11%) also received votes.

Here are a few more interesting results from Schuhmann’s GM survey, which is worth checking out in full:

NBA general managers expect the Clippers – who will have Kawhi Leonard back – to be the most improved team in 2022/23. L.A. received 41% of the vote, with the Cavaliers and Pelicans at 17% apiece.
The Celtics‘ trade for Malcolm Brogdon earned the most votes (28%) for the summer’s most underrated acquisition. The Sixers‘ signing of P.J. Tucker and the Clippers‘ addition of John Wall were the runners-up, with 14% each.
Asked which team has the most promising young core, NBA GMs overwhelmingly chose the Cavaliers (41%) and Grizzlies (38%). The Pistons (10%) were the only other club to get multiple votes.
NBA GMs view Magic forward Paolo Banchero as the best bet to win Rookie of the Year (79%) and also chose him as the 2022 draftee most likely to be the best player in five years (31%), narrowly edging Thunder big man Chet Holmgren (28%). As for the steal of the draft, GMs were split between Pistons big man Jalen Duren and Rockets forward Tari Eason (14% apiece), among many others.
Mavericks star Luka Doncic was picked as the favorite to win MVP, earning 48% of the vote from NBA GMs. Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Bucks came in second with 34%.

Contract Details: Fernando, Herro, Nance, Adams

October 4th, 2022 at 7:46am CST by Luke Adams

The Rockets used a portion of their mid-level exception to give Bruno Fernando a four-year deal and a guaranteed salary of $2,717,391 for the 2022/23 season, Hoops Rumors has confirmed. Fernando’s salary will dip to $2,581,522 for 2023/24 before rising back up to $2,717,391 for ’24/25 and increasing to $2,853,260 for ’25/26. As Michael Scotto of HoopsHype tweets, the second and third years of Fernando’s deal are non-guaranteed, while the fourth year is a team option.

Here are some details on a few more new contracts from around the NBA:

Tyler Herro‘s four-year extension with the Heat will pay him annual salaries of $27MM, $29MM, $31MM, and $33MM beginning in 2023/24, for a base value of exactly $120MM, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks. The deal also includes $2.5MM in annual incentives that are currently considered unlikely.
Larry Nance Jr.‘s two-year extension with the Pelicans will pay him $10,375,000 in 2023/24 and $11,205,000 in ’24/25, tweets Anil Gogna of NoTradeClause.com. Because Nance’s second-year raise exceeds 5%, he’ll be ineligible to be traded during the 2022/23 season.
Steven Adams‘ two-year extension with the Grizzlies features a flat base salary of $12.6MM in both 2023/24 and ’24/25, with no options or incentives, Hoops Rumors has confirmed. Adams’ new deal doesn’t exceed the extend-and-trade limits, so he’ll remain trade-eligible this season.
As expected, the recent contracts signed by Kaiser Gates (Nets), Brandon Rachal (Nets), and Sacha Killeya-Jones (Thunder) all included Exhibit 10 language.

Rockets' Rookie Class Ready For NBA Debut

October 2nd, 2022 at 8:31pm CST by JD Shaw

The Rockets‘ rookie class is ready for its NBA debut, Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle writes. Headlined by No. 3 pick Jabari Smith, Houston has a strong group of young players. The team also has Jalen Green (20 years old) and Kevin Porter Jr. (22 years old) to lean on as it continues its rebuild.

Rockets Sign Bruno Fernando To Four-Year Deal

October 2nd, 2022 at 8:00pm CST by JD Shaw

8:00pm: The deal is official, per NBA.com’s transaction log.

4:58pm: The Rockets have agreed to a four-year, $10.9MM deal with center Bruno Fernando, his agents informed ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

Fernando was recently converted from an Exhibit 10 contract to a two-way contract, but he’ll be converted again to this multiyear deal. The team wouldn’t have been able to convert him directly from his Exhibit 10 deal to a multiyear contract, but the intermediate step of the two-way made it possible.

Houston acquired Fernando, 24, in a deal with the Celtics earlier this year. The team sent away center Daniel Theis, also receiving Dennis Schröder and Enes Freedom. Fernando averaged 6.9 points and 4.0 rebounds in 10 games with Houston to finish the season.

At 6’9″ and 240 pounds, Fernando is an athletic big man who lives around the rim. He has played in 119 NBA games with Atlanta, Boston and Houston during his career. He was also the No. 34 pick in 2019 after spending two collegiate seasons at Maryland.

With the move, Houston will reopen a two-way spot. The team finished with the worst record in the league last season at 20-62.

Stephen Silas To Spend Preseason Figuring Out Rotations

October 1st, 2022 at 9:45pm CST by Arthur Hill

Rockets coach Stephen Silas will focus on working out his rotations during the preseason, according to Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. “Still trying to figure out which groups play well together,” Silas said. “Tomorrow gives us a chance to do it against another team, which is huge. It’s hard when you’re evaluating both teams at the same time. But when you’re playing against a team, you can really dive into what works well offensively or defensively.”

Vipers Acquire King's Rights; Rockets Received $6.4MM In Trade With Thunder

September 30th, 2022 at 8:43pm CST by Rory Maher

The Rockets‘ G League affiliate, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, have acquired the returning player rights to Louis King from the Westchester Knicks, Shaw tweets. Rio Grande sent Westchester its first-round pick and a second-rounder (via the Maine Celtics) in the NBAGL draft to complete the deal. King holds three years of NBA experience with the Pistons and Kings on two-way contracts. He was waived by Sacramento in February.
In the recently completed eight-player trade that saw Derrick Favors head to Houston, the Rockets received a staggering $6,363,000 in cash from Oklahoma City, per Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report (Twitter links). That’s the maximum amount of cash a team can send in a trade in 2022/23. The Thunder, meanwhile, generated two traded player exceptions worth $10.18MM (Favors) and $4.22MM (Ty Jerome), Pincus adds.

Thunder, Rockets Complete Eight-Player Trade

September 30th, 2022 at 6:05pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

SEPTEMBER 30: Both teams have announced that the trade is now official. However, the terms of the deal are slightly different than was previously reported.

Instead of Atlanta’s protected 2025 second-round pick, the Rockets will receive a 2026 second-rounder from Oklahoma City. That pick will be the second-most favorable of the Thunder’s, Mavericks’, and Sixers’ 2026 second-round picks. Houston is also receiving cash considerations in the deal.

SEPTEMBER 29, 9:15pm: The Rockets intend to waive Jerome, according to Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. Feigen adds that Favors and Maledon are considered the most likely among Houston’s new additions to claim spots on the 15-man regular season roster.

SEPTEMBER 29, 8:13pm: The Thunder have agreed to send center/power forward Derrick Favors, shooting guard Ty Jerome, forward Maurice Harkless, point guard Theo Maledon and the Hawks’ 2025 second-round draft pick (top-40 protected) to the Rockets in exchange for athletic swingman David Nwaba, wing Sterling Brown, point guard Trey Burke and power forward Marquese Chriss, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

As Wojnarowski observes, Oklahoma City will create two trade exceptions in the deal. In pure salary terms, the exchange will help the Thunder get $10MM under the league’s punitive luxury tax cap threshold. Wojnarowski notes that Favors in particular is tradable among the returning players arriving in Houston, as a solid backup big man on an expiring $10.2MM salary.

The 6’9″ Favors, 31, spent most of the last decade as a key role player with several good playoff-bound Jazz teams. Last year with the Thunder, he appeared in just 39 games, averaging 5.3 PPG on 51.6% shooting, plus 4.7 RPG, across 16.7 MPG.

Jerome and Maledon are both young players on modest contracts with remaining potential upside. Harkless, like Favors, is a veteran on an expiring deal.

On the Rockets’ side of the transaction, Houston is acquiring a future second-round draft pick in exchange for taking on some added salary, as Woj details.

According to Kelly Iko of The Athletic (via Twitter) if that Hawks 2025 second-rounder lands in the top 40 and is protected, Houston will instead receive the second-best of the Thunder’s, Mavericks’, and Sixers’ 2026 second-round picks.

Given that No. 2 draft pick Chet Holmgren has been ruled out for the year with a Lisfranc injury in his right foot, and with the best player in this new trade being sent away from the team, it appears the Thunder are once again prioritizing a year of youthful development, as they look to the 2023 draft lottery to build out their impressive young roster.

Oklahoma City added four rookies in the 2022 draft, including two additional lottery picks beyond Holmgren. The Thunder have been in full-on rebuild mode since the end of the 2019/20 season, winning a total of 46 games over the last two years.

Houston has also been in the asset-collection and draft lottery-targeting phase of its journey since 2020. The team went 37-127 from 2020-22. This year, the Rockets drafted intriguing rookie power forward Jabari Smith with the third pick out of Auburn. They also made two other selections in the first round.

It appears unlikely that every player in this deal will be with their new clubs when the regular season opens. Bobby Marks of ESPN (via Twitter) notes that both teams will still have 18 guaranteed contracts on their books following this deal. Per league rules, they’ll each need to get down to 15 players by October 17.

Rockets Convert Bruno Fernando To Two-Way Contract

September 30th, 2022 at 5:37pm CST by Rory Maher

The Rockets have converted Bruno Fernando‘s Exhibit 10 contract to a two-way deal, our JD Shaw reports (via Twitter).

The 34th overall pick of the 2018 draft after a couple of college seasons at Maryland, Fernando spent his first two pro season with Atlanta before being traded to Boston last year. The Celtics later sent him to Houston as part of a multiplayer deal.

The big man played some of the best basketball of his NBA career down the stretch with the Rockets in 2021/22, albeit in a limited role. Fernando averaged 6.9 PPG, 4.0 RPG, and 0.8 BPG on 70.7% shooting in 10 appearances (9.4 MPG) for Houston. In 119 career games (9.2 MPG), the 24-year-old holds averages of 3.2 PPG and 2.8 RPG.

The Rockets are facing a roster crunch to start the ’22/23 regular season, as they currently have 18 players on standard contracts. That number needs to be reduced to 15 before the season starts.

After the conversion of Fernando’s contract, both of the team’s two-way spots are currently occupied; rookie Trevor Hudgins holds the other.

Texas Notes: Wood, Crowder, Collins, Green

September 29th, 2022 at 10:04pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The Mavericks‘ plan to start JaVale McGee at center and utilize his fellow five Christian Wood off the bench may test the limits of the team culture second-year head coach Jason Kidd has been cultivating in Dallas, writes Callie Caplan of The Dallas Morning News. So far though, Wood appears willing to play whatever role is asked of him.

“I’m not really worried about who starts the game, more so who’s finishing the game,” Wood said on Monday, addressing a potential reserve role in Dallas. “If people were asking, ‘How would he feel coming off the bench?’ I’m not worried. It’s something that most likely will happen in talks with extensions and talks with free agency, but during the season, it’s not going to get me off my pivot.”

Wood enjoyed a typically productive 2021/22 season on a lottery-bound Rockets team. He averaged 17.9 PPG, 10.1 RPG, 2.3 APG, 1.0 BPG and 0.8 SPG in 68 games. He also connected on 39% of a high-volume 4.9 three-point attempts.

Meanwhile, during Kidd’s first season as head coach last year, the Mavericks secured a 52-30 record and returned to the Western Conference Finals for the first time since 2011, when Kidd was the team’s starting point guard.

Ahead of the 2022 draft, Houston flipped Wood to the Mavericks. In return, the Rockets received several veteran role players, but the highlight of the deal was Dallas’ No. 26 first-round draft pick, which Houston then traded to the Timberwolves in exchange for the No. 29 pick and two future second-rounders.

There’s more out of the Lone Star State:

Though Suns power forward Jae Crowder appears to be headed for a divorce with Phoenix, the Mavericks are not interested in trading for the veteran stretch four, tweets John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM Phoenix. Crowder served as the starting power forward for consecutive Finals teams from 2020-21, first with the Heat and then for Phoenix. In 67 contests last season, the 6’6″ vet averaged 9.4 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 1.9 APG and 1.4 SPG, while connecting on 34.8% of his 5.4 triples a night and 78.9% of his 1.3 looks at the charity stripe.
Spurs power forward Zach Collins, kicking off a new NBA season healthy at last, is excited to show what he can do this year in San Antonio, per Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio Express-News (Twitter link). “I don’t think you guys have seen the best of me yet,” Collins said. “Definitely the best I’ve felt physically in my career.” The 6’11” big man missed most of the 2021/22 season while recovering from an ankle injury. In 28 games, he averaged 7.8 PPG and 5.5 RPG on .490/.341/.800 shooting splits.
Second-year Rockets shooting guard Jalen Green, the No. 2 pick in the 2021 draft out of the G League Ignite, is a devout workaholic, according to his trainer Mike Hill. Kelly Iko of The Athletic spoke with Hill about how Green approached the second half of his rookie season and his preparations for 2022/23. Among other areas, the duo worked on improving Green’s strength, ball handling, and pick-and-roll abilities.