After a fairly quiet morning, business around the NBA picked up in the evening as the NBA Draft approached, as the active trade period across the league continued.
It started with the Thunder acquiring yet another first round pick, along with Al Horford and the 34th overall pick in tonight’s draft, in a deal that sent Danny Green to Philadelphia. Then, the Houston Rockets worked out a deal with the Detroit Pistons to send Trevor Ariza — who was traded back to Houston on Monday in the Robert Covington deal — along with the 16th overall pick (also brought in from Portland) for a future first, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Houston is trading Trevor Ariza and the No. 16 pick tonight to Detroit for a future first-round pick, sources tell ESPN. The deal gives the Rockets – a hard-capped team — the freedom to use their mid-level exception in free agency.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) November 18, 2020
The pick being sent back to Houston is, per James Edwards III, strongly protected and would not convey if it’s in the top 16 anytime soon.
Per source, the pick the #Pistons are sending to Houston is HEAVILY protected. It's top-16 protected for the next four years, top-10 protected the following two years and then top-9 protected. After that, it becomes seconds.
— James L. Edwards III (@JLEdwardsIII) November 19, 2020
On top of that, the Rockets will purchase a 2021 second round for $4.6 million — effectively operating as some cash considerations for Detroit to ease the burden of taking on Ariza’s salary, which is not fully guaranteed.
The Rockets are purchasing Detroit's 2021 second-round pick — via the Lakers — for $4.6M, sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) November 18, 2020
In all, this seems like a good deal for the Pistons, who acquire another draft pick for this year that will be better than what they’d send back in the future, while also getting some money to take the sting out of the Ariza acquisition — they have ample cap space to absorb him, anyways. For the Rockets, as Woj mentioned, this allows them to use their full mid-level exception as they try to figure out what they will look like next season.
