Houston Rockets rumors: Rockets in contact with Trevor Ariza, Luol Deng, Paul Pierce
The Houston Rockets have been big winners in each of the last two offseasons. In 2012, they pulled off a trade to acquire guard James Harden from the Oklahoma City Thunder and topped that a year ago when they signed center Dwight Howard away from the Los Angeles Lakers.
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The Rockets are trying to make another big splash this offseason. Now that is looks like New York Knicks’ forward Carmelo Anthony is not a realistic option, they have turned their attention to Miami Heat big man Chris Bosh, believing that if forward LeBron James leaves the Heat for the Cleveland Cavaliers, Bosh would jump at their offer.
Lost in the shuffle is Rockets’ forward Chandler Parsons, a restricted free agent. On Thursday, the Dallas Mavericks are expected to sign Parsons to an offer sheet worth $45 million over three years. The Rockets can, of course, match the offer sheet and keep Parsons.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports, the Rockets have not decided whether or not to match the offer sheet Parsons signed (or perhaps they have and just haven’t let the cat out of the bag), but have spoken with three key unrestricted free agent wings – Washington Wizards’ swingman Trevor Ariza, Cleveland Cavaliers’ forward Luol Deng and Brooklyn Nets’ veteran Paul Pierce.
No clear answer yet on Rockets matching sheet, but GM Morey had been on phone w/ agents for Ariza, Deng and Pierce today, sources tell Y.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 9, 2014
Deng averaged 16.0 points, 5.7 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.0 steals per game while shooting 43.1% from the field, 30.2% from three and 79.1% from the charity stripe last season. Ariza went for 14.4 points, 6.2 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.6 steals per game. He shot 45.6% from the field, 40.7% from beyond the arc and 77.2% from the free throw line. Pierce put up 13.5 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game while shooting 45.1% from the field, 37.3% from the three and 82.6% from the free throw line.