Trevor Ariza is a Houston Rocket

If you CAN beat them … join them anyway? I guess: “The Houston Rockets, fresh off losing Ron Artest to the Los Angeles Lakers, have essentially swapped players by agreeing to terms with Lakers free agent forward Trevor Ariza, whom Artest will be replacing in Los Angeles. The deal will be for five years at the mid-level exception; based on last season’s $5.585 million amount for the mid-level, Ariza would get around $32 million…’We had a substantially larger offer above the mid-level from Toronto,’ agent David Lee said. ‘Trevor decided to go to Houston. I told Mitch (Kupchak, the Lakers’ general manager) that it was never about the money; it was about respect.’”