The Houston Rockets have agreed to trade guards Nik Stauskas and Wade Baldwin to the Indiana Pacers, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reports. The Rockets received Stauskas and Baldwin from the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Iman Shumpert trade on Wednesday.
Indiana intends to waive them once the transaction is final. Wojnarowski adds that the Rockets will attach a second-round draft pick in order to push the deal through.
This move opens two more roster spots and brings Houston just below the tax threshold after trading forward James Ennis earlier this morning. However, with just 12 players now on the roster, the team has two weeks to add at least one more if they do not execute another deal before the deadline.
Moving forward, this allows the Rockets to either explore the increasingly robust buyout market, or cycle through 10-day contracts in order to dodge the tax. Most likely, Houston is not done making moves.
