The Houston Rockets announced Saturday that forward Gary Clark would be assigned to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, the team’s G league affiliate.
Clark, 24, had been recalled from the Vipers on March 16th before being re-assigned the next day. Aside from the occasional garbage time minutes, Clark has completely fallen out of Houston’s rotation. It’s become increasingly difficult for head coach Mike D’Antoni to find minutes for veterans like Austin Rivers and Kenneth Faried, much less young players like Clark. Rivers and Faried have not played the last two games due to D’Antoni shortening his rotations.
“(The rotation) is probably going to be 9 men,” D’Antoni said Friday after the Rockets defeated the Spurs. “I don’t know what 9 yet. We’re going to try to look at different things and try to give people different chances. I don’t think you can play 10 or 11 guys (in the playoffs).”
It’s unlikely Clark sees the floor for significant minutes for the rest of the season barring a string of injuries. Houston has comfortably found a nice rotation of players that D’Antoni trusts and it’s unlikely Clark will see himself fitting into that group.
