The players the Rockets will acquire when the Christian Wood trade becomes official may never play for the team, writes Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. Houston has agreed to send Wood to the Mavericks in exchange for the 26th pick in next week’s draft and four players on expiring contracts, Boban Marjanovic, Sterling Brown, Trey Burke and Marquese Chriss.
Chriss and Brown both played for the Rockets before, but aren’t expected to be invited to training camp, according to Feigen. He cites Marjanovic as the most likely player to remain with the organization because of his abilities on offense and his willingness to accept a backup role, but adds that Marjanovic’s fate won’t be determined for a while.
None of the players will make more than $3.5MM next season, so they could be waived without a significant impact to the Rockets’ financial situation or they could be moved in other deals. Houston will have 16 players under contract once the deal is complete, along with its two-way players and three picks in the first round of the draft.
There’s more NBA news from Texas:
- Wood’s time with the Rockets has seemed limited ever since the team traded up in last year’s draft to select Alperen Sengun, notes Kelly Iko of The Athletic. Despite Wood’s unique talents, he wasn’t successful at power forward alongside Daniel Theis at the start of the season and he didn’t fit well next to Sengun. Wood also didn’t offer much rim protection as a center and he may not have been interested in re-signing with Houston because of his desire to be with a playoff team, Iko adds.
- Marjanovic was one of Luka Doncic‘s best friends on the team, but the Mavericks could appease Doncic by pursuing fellow Slovenian guard Goran Dragic in free agency, suggests Callie Caplan of The Dallas Morning News (Twitter link).
- Colorado State’s David Roddy is scheduled to work out for the Mavericks on Friday, tweets Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News. Dallas won’t have any picks once the Wood deal goes through, but the team could try to trade into the late first round or early second round, where Roddy is projected to be taken.
- Arkansas big man Jaylin Williams worked out for the Spurs on Tuesday, according to Andrew Slater of Pro Insight (Twitter link). Along with three first-round picks, San Antonio has the No. 38 selection, where it could target Williams, who is projected as a mid second-rounder.