Rockets have one more day to add players to roster

The Houston Rockets trimmed their roster to 12 players at the Feb. 7 trade deadline, but the league’s Collective Bargaining Agreement stipulates that each team must carry a minimum of 14 players. As such, Houston had two weeks to add more players before its roster became illegal.

Although today was widely believed to be the deadline for the Rockets to do so, Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle reports that the team actually has until tomorrow. This is because trade deadline transactions did not become official until Feb. 8.

Though the Rockets roster is still at 12 players (plus two two-ways) two weeks after the trade deadline, team not planning any additions today, source said.

— Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) February 21, 2019

Turns out, it's pretty simple. The trades became official on Feb. 8. The Rockets have another day to add to the roster. https://t.co/7BFCq6NXG9

— Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) February 21, 2019

According to Feigen, Houston does not intend to add any more players today, though they will have to in short order. There are a small handful of players remaining on the buyout market that the Rockets could pursue. The most tantalizing talents (Wesley Matthews, Wayne Ellington, Markieff Morris, etc) have already been spoken for.

Any addition the Rockets make is likely to bring them back above the luxury tax threshold. They are currently $877,610 under it.

Update: A previous version of this article listed a minimum of 13 players per NBA roster. This has been corrected to 14.