Rockets Have Decision To Make This Week With Open Roster Spot

Shortly after Thursday’s trade agreement with Boston involving Daniel Theis and Dennis Schroder, the Houston Rockets made it clear that veteran big man Enes Freedom (formerly Kanter) would not be sticking around. His inclusion was simply for salary matching reasons and to ease the financial burden on the Celtics from their 2021-22 team payroll.

Yet, as of early Monday, Freedom had yet to be formally waived by Houston, per the NBA’s official transaction wire. There’s a reason for that: The trade, while announced, had yet to be finalized until late Sunday, owing to the process of completing physicals and paperwork.

In conjunction with the original announcement, the Rockets released DJ Augustin and Armoni Brooks, since they were taking in three players in the deal (Schroder, Freedom, and Bruno Fernando) while sending out only one (Theis). Yet, they are only planning to keep two of those three from Boston. While Houston obviously never planned to keep Freedom, they could not formally “waive” him until his trade was fully complete.

As of Monday, that changes, and general manager Rafael Stone has a standard roster spot to hand out. One option, per The Athletic’s Kelly Iko, is simply bringing back Brooks. In two seasons with the Rockets, the 23-year-old guard averaged 7.8 points (33.5% on 3-pointers) and 2.0 rebounds in 19.8 minutes, and he already cleared waivers.

But there are other options, as well. In addition to scouring the G League, it should be noted that the Rockets (15-40) currently have the NBA’s third-worst record, which puts them in a lofty spot in the waivers order to potentially claim a player, as well — should someone they like have been waived by another team as part of a trade deadline move.

Another possibility is converting rookie guard Daishen Nix, who has excelled in the G League, from his current two-way contract to a multi-year deal (only allowed for players on standard roster spots, not two-ways). But even if that is Stone’s plan, the Rockets would still have a probable signing to make to fill what is currently Nix’s two-way slot.

The exact timetable is not yet clear, but with the Freedom transaction finally reaching the end stage, the wheels are now in motion.