The Rockets‘ multi-team sign-and-trade deal for Dillon Brooks will expand further to include the trade agreement between Houston and the Clippers involving Kenyon Martin Jr., according to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle.
Houston’s deal that sends TyTy Washington and Usman Garuba to the Hawks will also be part of the Brooks sign-and-trade with the Grizzlies. With the Clippers involved and the Thunder set to take on Patty Mills in the complex transaction, it will be at least a five-team trade.
The Rockets, who acquired a second-round pick from Brooklyn for Mills and are getting two more from the Clippers for Martin, will send out five second-rounders in the deal — two to Atlanta and three to Oklahoma City. Those three picks going to the Thunder haven’t been reported yet, so it’s possible they’ll just be the three selections that Houston is receiving from the Nets and Clippers.
As we wait for the Rockets to complete their offseason moves, here are a few more notes out of Houston:
- Jeff Green‘s contract with the Rockets, originally reported to be worth $6M for one year, will actually be for $16M over two, with a non-guaranteed second year, tweets Bobby Marks of ESPN. Marks adds that Green’s first-year cap hit will be $8M. If that figure is precise, rather than rounded, it means the forward will have to be signed using cap room rather than the room exception, which maxes out at $7.7M.
- The hiring of Ime Udoka as head coach was a major factor in the Rockets’ decision to pivot away from James Harden and toward Fred VanVleet in free agency, a league source tells Steve Bulpett of Heavy.com. “From everything we’ve gotten out of there, it was a matter that Ime didn’t want him,” the source said. “At the beginning, were they thinking about Harden? Yeah. But then they hired Ime, and Ime said, ‘It’s not going to work here.'”
- Appearing on the IkoSystem podcast, Kenyon Martin Jr. spoke to Kelly Iko of The Athletic about the trade that will send him from the Rockets to the Clippers. Martin said that he appreciates the opportunity the Rockets gave him and added that Houston “will always have a place in my heart,” but admitted he’s looking forward to returning home to Los Angeles, where he was born and raised (Twitter audio clip).
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