It took all of two seasons for Daryl Morey and James Harden to decide Chris Paul wasn’t someone they wanted to move forward with. In fairness, his contract at his age is an albatross, but depending on who you ask the Rockets were one tweaked CP3 hamstring away from an NBA Finals appearance.
That said, if you have a shot to add Russell Westbrook – you do it. After Sam Presti cleaned out the Clippers cupboard for Paul George what he got for Westbrook feels like less than Russ was worth. But again, there are those who believe the Brodie was regressing and aren’t looking at why his game fell off in his efforts to help PG13 win accolades. Let’s just leave a marker here for the end of this season and see how well George fares when another star isn’t focused on making sure he can personally play to his utmost effectiveness.
Other than Westbrook the Rockets didn’t make huge changes although they did bring in former OKC Thunder favorite Thabo Sefolosha.
Morey also re-signed Gerald Green and Austin Rivers who both were key contributors last season. Green was re-upped on a one year vet’s minimum deal of $2,564,753 and Rivers signed a two-year deal worth $2,174,318 this season and a player option of $2,369,663 next season.
Both contracts looked to be steals, especially with Green lighting up the perimeter in preseason. Then he hurt himself in a game versus the Raptors and the updates are he broke a bone in his foot and is likely to miss the entirety of the season. That is a big hit for the Rockets’ depth although it’s better it happened now while Houston still has the majority of the season to find a replacement.
The Rockets fear that Gerald Green's broken foot is worse than initially expected and fear he'll miss the season, league sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) October 15, 2019
Players Added:
Free Agency:
G: Ben McLemore
C: Tyson Chandler
F: Thabo Sefolosha
F: Ryan Anderson
Trade:
G: Russell Westbrook (trade with Thunder)
Rookies:
Departing Players:
Free Agents:
G: Trevon Duval (unrestricted)
G: Iman Shumpert (unrestricted)
F: Vince Edwards (unrestricted)
F/C: Kenneth Faried (unrestricted)
Trade:
G: Chris Paul (traded to Thunder)