On Tuesday afternoon, the Houston Rockets finally made all of the transactions official from last week’s wave of trade agreements.
As a refresher, the Rockets agreed to trade Robert Covington to Portland last Monday for Trevor Ariza and first-round picks in 2020 and 2021. However, because teams can’t be without a first-round selection in consecutive years, the deal had to wait until after Portland made the “official” choice at No. 16 overall in last Wednesday’s NBA draft.
Covington averaged 11.6 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 2.2 blocks in 33.0 minutes per game with the Rockets last season, and the 6-foot-8 forward was among the team’s best and most versatile defenders.
Then, on Wednesday, the Rockets traded that No. 16 pick and Ariza to Detroit for a protected first-round draft choice in 2021. However, that deal couldn’t be made official until after the first trade, since it involved two of the assets that Houston would be receiving from Portland.
Finally, on Friday, the Rockets agreed to sign free agent center Christian Wood, who happened to play for the Pistons last season. Because Detroit had his “early Bird” contract rights, Wood could get more money by working through the Pistons than simply by signing with the Rockets, who were and are above the league’s salary cap. So the original Ariza trade was expanded to include Wood, who was signed-and-traded to Houston.
Here’s how the team described Wood’s statistical production:
Wood (6-10, 223) was eligible for the 2015 NBA Draft following his sophomore season at UNLV. The 25-year-old finished eighth in voting for the Most Improved Player award in 2019-20 while averaging 13.1 points and 6.3 rebounds in 62 games for Detroit.
Over his final 22 games played last season, Wood averaged 19.7 ppg and 8.1 rpg while shooting 56.0% from the floor, 40.3% from 3-point range, and 77.4% from the foul line. For the season, he joined Enes Kanter (2016-17) as the only players in league history to have averaged at least 13.0 ppg and 6.0 rpg in fewer than 22.0 mpg in a single season.
Contracts involving 2020 free agents could not be made official until this Sunday. Furthermore, teams also typically put newcomers through a physical examination before finalizing their offseason signings. As a result, it took until Tuesday for the entire chain to be completed.
In effect, the Rockets are sending out Covington and have acquired Wood and two protected future first-round draft choices from Detroit and Portland. Here’s what we currently know of the protection terms:
The first that Houston is getting from Detroit is:
2021+2022- Top 16 protected
2023+2024- Top 18 protected
2025- Top 13 protected
2026- Top 11 protected
2027- Top 9 protectedTurns into a 2027 2nd if not conveyed https://t.co/TKlaqRlvPA
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) November 24, 2020
• new #Rockets’ Trevor Ariza is on the final year of his contract, due to earn $12.8 million in the coming season.
• new #Blazers’ Robert Covington will earn $12.1 million in 2020-21, $13.0 million in 2021-22.
— fedemaximannion (@fedemaxiperu) November 17, 2020
To commemorate Tuesday’s “official” occasion, the Rockets sent out two videos on their official social media channels to thank Covington for his time in Houston and welcome Wood into the fold. Highlight packages of both players can be seen in those embedded video posts.
Training camps for the 2020-21 NBA season open next Tuesday, Dec. 1. Covington will be in Portland, and Wood in Houston. Ariza has since been moved by the Pistons in a separate trade (the third deal involving Ariza in under a week) to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
