Rockets trading for NBA champion sharpshooter on heels of spending spree

Sources tell Shams Charania and Kelly Iko of The Athletic that Houston is finalizing a deal to acquire veteran guard Patty Mills in a trade with the Brooklyn Nets. 

The move ends Mills' Brooklyn tenure after two seasons and marks the second trade the Nets have struck in as many days. On Friday, the team moved Joe Harris and two future second-round picks to the Detroit Pistons. Harris (31) and Mills (34) were the two oldest players on Brooklyn's roster. 

The Mills addition in Houston ticks off two boxes the Rockets are clearly prioritizing this offseason — veteran leadership and winning pedigree. Like VanVleet, Mills is a former NBA champion, earning a title with the San Antonio Spurs to cap the 2013-2014 season. Between the two guards and Brooks, the trio has played in a combined 169 career playoff games. The Rockets, on the other hand, haven't tasted postseason play since the James Harden era in 2019-20. 

Mills is a spark-plug combo guard who should deliver a nice scoring punch to a Rockets second unit that averaged the ninth-fewest points in the NBA this past season (32.0 ppg). A career 38.9 percent three-point shooter, Mills has averaged 10.8-plus points in three of the last four seasons. 

The Rockets already boast one of the league's most tantalizing young rosters, headlined by Jalen Green, Jabari Smith Jr., Alperen Şengün and Amen Thompson. Their veteran additions this offseason give the team an influx of proven talent to intersperse alongside those promising pieces and possibly will allow the Rockets to start making some noise in the West.