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After a solid win last night against the Orlando Magic, we enter the most hectic six hour stretch of the NBA season. The NBA trade deadline passes at 3pm eastern and it's almost impossible to know what to expect. This is doubly true for our Mavericks, who have thus far been able to keep any rumors, with the exception of interest in Brandon Jennings, in house.
The official SB Nation NBA trade rumor hub is right here.
Though it's not been confirmed/approved by the league office, there's already been one major trade which happened last night. The Houston Rockets, they of a million assets (most of them forwards), sent Marcus Morris to the Suns and Patrick Patterson, Cole Aldrich, Toney Douglas, and one million dollars to the Sacramento Kings in exchange for the 5th pick in last summer's draft, Thomas Robertson, as well as Fransisco Garcia, and Tyler Honeycut.
This is an interesting move for the Rockets, as they traded away a few nice rotation pieces in exchange for a draft pick in Robinson who has been disappointing thus far. Garcia might be a free agent this summer because the last year on his deal is a team option. As Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! points out
Remember, Houston has the space to sign Smith as a free agent this summer. They're not going to overpay to trade for him now.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) February 21, 2013
So the Rockets are eyeing some interesting possibilities for the Summre of 2013. Remember, both Jeremy Lin and Omer Asik were signed to back-loaded deals that don't put constraints on Houston's ability to sign players until 2014-2015.
Grantland's Zach Lowe points out something worth paying attention to as well
Just for the record: HOU is still under the cap by my math, meaning they could in theory trade Robinson right away. (No restrictions).
— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) February 21, 2013
Houston might not be done yet. It's going to be an interesting day, no doubt.
UPDATE!
Sam Amick of USA Today just posted this tidbit... it seems the Rockets may not be able to move Robinson
Seeking clarity on Thomas Robinson component (whether Rox can flip him), but someone who is paid to know such rules says they can't.
— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) February 21, 2013
UPDATE to the UPDATE!
Just to clarify again: HOU is free to re-route Robinson, provided they finish the trade (physicals, reporting, etc) in time. That's unlikely
— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) February 21, 2013
I'm going to trust Lowe. Mainly because he read one of my stories once, according to legend. And because he's in the know.