In a trade between rebuilding rivals in the Western Conference, Oklahoma City is sending Derrick Favors, Ty Jerome, Moe Harkless, Theo Maledon, and a 2026 second-round pick to the Houston Rockets for David Nwaba, Sterling Brown, Trey Burke and Marquese Chriss, as first reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
All of the players involved have expiring contracts (see Rockets and Thunder books), so it shouldn’t materially impact either team’s long-term salary cap planning. Oklahoma City is also sending $6.3 million in cash considerations to compensate for the substantial gap in salaries, per Jackson Gatlin of “Locked on Rockets.”
The Rockets had acquired Brown, Burke, and Chriss for salary matching purposes as part of the trade sending Christian Wood to Dallas in June, but none were in Houston’s future plans.
Keeping those players into the 2022-23 regular season, which begins in less than three weeks, would have been difficult because the NBA’s offseason roster limit of 20 players shrinks to 15 standard contracts and two two-way deals. Thus, Rockets general manager Rafael Stone was searching to make something of those assets before the roster deadline would force many (if not all) of those players to be released.
Of the four players acquired from the Thunder, only Favors — a veteran who could figure into Houston’s backup center mix — would seem to have a plausible path to rotation minutes this season. While Houston is likely to evaluate all or most in the preseason, the roster deadline is likely to force a handful of releases.
Beyond any value from Favors as a player, the primary benefits of the trade appear to be his salary and the future second-round draft pick via Atlanta. At $10.2 million, Favors could potentially help the Rockets match salary in trades closer to the 2022-23 trade deadline next February, yet he only occupies one roster spot. To reach that figure prior to this trade, the Rockets would have had to commit multiple roster spots due to the smaller annual salaries.
Moreover, because Houston is taking in much more money ($20.9 million) than is being sent out ($13.5 million) and reducing Oklahoma City’s potential luxury tax figure, the Thunder are compensating the Rockets with a future second-round draft pick and cash. To make the math work, given that gap, the trade will be broken into separate parts, per ESPN’s NBA front office insider Bobby Marks.
The Rockets are effectively buying a future pick asset by absorbing a contract from a team looking to shed salary, similar to the 2024 second-round pick they received from Brooklyn last preseason in a deal involving Sekou Doumbouya, who was subsequently waived.
As compensation, Houston’s newly acquired second-round pick will be the second-best 2026 selection between Dallas, Oklahoma City and Philadelphia. All of those picks are currently owned by the Thunder. Original reports had the future second-round asset as a 2025 second-round pick via Atlanta (protected for picks 31-40), but there were issues with rolling over the protection to the next year, so the final trade was revised to a 2026 pick, instead.
Scroll on for recent statistics of players involved in the trade, along with further analysis and reaction to the move.
Last season’s statistics, player info
Outgoing players, from Houston to Oklahoma City:
- David Nwaba, 6-foot-5 forward, 29 years old: 5.1 points (48.3% FG, 30.6% on 3-pointers), 3.3 rebounds, 1.0 steals in 13.2 minutes
- Trey Burke, 6-foot-0 guard, 29 years old: 5.1 points (39.1% FG, 31.7% on 3-pointers), 1.4 assists in 10.5 minutes
- Sterling Brown, 6-foot-6 guard, 27 years old: 3.3 points (38.1% FG, 30.4% on 3-pointers), 3.0 rebounds in 12.8 minutes
- Marquese Chriss, 6-foot-9 forward, 25 years old: 4.5 points (46.3% FG, 32.0% on 3-pointers), 3.0 rebounds in 10.2 minutes
Incoming players, from Oklahoma City to Houston:
- Derrick Favors, 6-foot-9 forward, 31 years old: 5.3 points (51.6% FG), 4.7 rebounds in 16.7 minutes
- Moe Harkless, 6-foot-7 forward, 29 years old: 4.6 points (45.9% FG, 30.7% on 3-pointers), 2.4 rebounds in 18.4 minutes
- Theo Maledon, 6-foot-4 guard, 21 years old: 7.1 points (37.5% FG, 29.3% on 3-pointers), 2.6 rebounds, 2.2 assists in 17.8 minutes
- Ty Jerome, 6-foot-5 guard, 25 years old: 7.1 points (37.8% FG, 29.0% on 3-pointers), 2.3 assists, 1.6 rebounds in 16.7 minutes
Here’s the contract breakdown for the 8 players involved.
To HOU
D. Favors- $10.2M
T. Jerome- $4.2M
M. Harkless- $4.6M
T. Maledon- $1.9MTo OKC
D. Nwaba- $5M
S. Brown- $3M
T. Burke- $3.4M
M. Chriss- $2.2M— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) September 30, 2022
I'm told this did, in fact, change.#Rockets will now get the second-best 2026 2nd from the OKC, Dallas, and Philadelphia trio.
That 2025 ATL 2nd is no more. https://t.co/yIyXySita6
— Ben DuBose (@BenDuBose) September 30, 2022
Saving money. #Rockets are taking back a lot more money than they're sending out and getting a 2nd-round pick in exchange for doing so.
Similar to the Brooklyn deal involving Sekou Doumbouya a year ago. Basically, Houston is buying future picks from teams wanting to cut costs https://t.co/ezDZ1RKmKM
— Ben DuBose (@BenDuBose) September 30, 2022
Per source, the #Rockets will receive $6.3 million in cash as part of the trade with the OKC Thunder.
— Jackson Gatlin (@JTGatlin) September 30, 2022
Cap-centric deal for both teams: Thunder gain two trade exceptions and drop about $10M under luxury tax. Rockets get a second-round pick for taking on $1M in salary. Favors will have value as a backup center, or elsewhere on a trade in marketplace too. https://t.co/k8zpgthwOh
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) September 30, 2022
I like this. #Rockets consolidate the smaller Dallas salaries they weren’t going to be able to keep into the season for a larger one (Favors, $10.2M) who could also help them short-term as a backup center. https://t.co/G9iTtKNyr0
— Ben DuBose (@BenDuBose) September 30, 2022
Both teams still remain with 18 guaranteed contracts after the trade.
Will need to trim down to 15 by 10/17.
Harkless can be traded now because he was acquired into the DPE.
All expiring contracts except for Maledon and Nwaba. Both have a team option for next season. https://t.co/EsZrY5m0fT
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) September 30, 2022
I would expect roster cuts to come from the majority of the below players.
1 trade but broken into separate parts to make the money works https://t.co/jGoe7MVDhF
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) September 30, 2022
Eric Gordon + Derrick Favors = ~ 30M in expiring salaries. #Rockets
Favors can be aggregated in a trade in 60 days.
— Chris A. White 🐻 (@fyrebear) September 30, 2022
The Houston Rockets plan to waive Ty Jerome, sources tell @TheAthletic.
— Kelly Iko (@KellyIko) September 30, 2022
Fun cap nerd stuff:
OKC was approved for the Chet Holmgren DPE. Almost immediately used it to take on Harkless and help ATL avoid the tax.
Then OKC almost immediately tossed Harkless in a deal to give themselves a bunch of clearance under the tax.
Sam Presti = always working!
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) September 30, 2022
This will clear the roster spot to sign Willie Cauley-Stein and secure his G League rights.
I suspect Harkless and Maledon are longshots to make the roster, but since #Rockets don't imminently need another spot, no harm in evaluating in preseason and seeing if there's a fit. https://t.co/inkSEynxaD
— Ben DuBose (@BenDuBose) September 30, 2022
