Houston Rockets actively pursuing a deal using their $8.4 million trade exception
The Houston Rockets have an $8.4 million trade exception from the Jeremy Lin deal with the Lakers. This means they could use some or all of that to acquire a salary that a team wants to dump via trade, the exception is that it can’t be combined with another player to take in a bigger salary.
Houston is 16-4 to start the season and 7-3 without an injured Dwight Howard. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports, Rockets GM Daryl Morey is actively looking to use that exception to make a deal:
The Houston Rockets are aggressively pursuing deals to use their $8.4 million trade exception before Dec. 19, league sources told Yahoo Sports.
Rival executives say that Houston’s front office has been active in searching out deals in recent days and wants an acquisition completed within the 60-day reaggregation window before the Feb. 19 NBA trade deadline. This way, the Rockets could still have an option of moving the player again this season.
With Howard and Terrence Jones now both out for Houston, it’s possible Morey will look to bring in another big to fill that hole. With that kind of exception it’s not primed to be a major move, but keeping the roster fresh and deep is probably the best way to keep themselves afloat in the conference while they await Howard’s return.