Chris Paul is headed to the Houston Rockets and the balance of power in the NBA is potentially in flux as a result. Obviously, the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers remain atop the league from an intrigue and performance standpoint but the Rockets now boast in an incredibly interesting roster featuring two of the best guards in the league.
Before that much-ballyhooed trade is official, though, the Rockets needed to add some salary to make the NBA salary cap machinations work and they began putting that together in the immediate aftermath. First, Houston traded for DeAndre Liggins, who has a team option at a very small cap number for next season.
Houston is just getting started building superteam. They've just announced they acquired DeAndre Liggins from Dallas for cash considerations
— Sean Highkin (@highkin) June 28, 2017
Then, moments later, word broke that the Rockets were taking on Tim Quarterman from the Portland Trail Blazers.
Portland has traded Tim Quarterman to the Houston Rockets for cash, league source tells @TheVertical.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojVerticalNBA) June 28, 2017
The result is that the Rockets can now move on from both Liggins and Quarterman in an effort to aggregate movable salary for their Chris Paul foray.
Both Tim Quarterman and DeAndre Liggins can be traded now by Houston. Both players were acquired with room. HOU was $3.1m below the cap.
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) June 28, 2017
Houston could also be preparing for high-level pursuits of top-tier players that could form a "super team" vibe with both Paul and Harden. Even without that, though, these moves were necessary in order to make the math work and the Rockets are way ahead of the curve with a few days before free agency begins on July 1. Stay tuned.
UPDATE: It looks like the Rockets have made two other deals — bringing the total to four — to help the Chris Paul deal.
Hawks officially announce the trade of Ryan Kelly, whose contract was not guaranteed, to Houston for cash.
— Mike Conti (@MikeConti929) June 28, 2017
Rockets are also getting Darren Hilliard from Detroit, I'm told.
— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) June 28, 2017
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