Even with a fully healthy team, for the fourth time in five years, the Houston Rockets’ season came to an end in the NBA Playoffs thanks to the Golden State Warriors.
Heading into the offseason, the Rockets have no NBA draft picks to offer, no cap space to work with and two very heavy contracts belonging to James Harden and Chris Paul.
Yet, there is still the possibility the front office can make some moves, make some trades and snag some worthwhile free agents this summer.
Rockets Wire is exploring and breaking down those free agents, and what they can offer to the team.
Brook Lopez
The 7-foot-0 center can space the floor and shoot the three. What more could the Rockets want?
This year, Lopez is shooting a career-high 35.2 percent from beyond the arc, which is pretty spectacular for someone who stands at seven feet.
Further, his reliability for the Bucks has been unmatched this season — not just in consistently being healthy, but consistently playing consistent.
In addition to being an ideal floor spacer for a team that needs it when the ball is either in Harden’s or Paul’s hands, Lopez is a guaranteed good rim protector who can get physical under the basket.
The one-year deal that Lopez signed back in June 2018 was for roughly $3.38 million as part of the Bucks’ bi-annual exception. So, essentially, they got a serious steal.
Adding to speculation that he leaves is that Milwaukee doesn’t own Lopez’s Bird Rights, so in order to pay him more than $4 million, they would have to finagle cap space.
The Rockets don’t have that cap space either, but can do some finagling of their own. Lopez had a stand-out regular season and is having an even louder postseason — so should Houston chase him this summer?
