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The Houston Rockets made another trade move before the deadline, sending forward James Ennis to the Philadelphia 76ers for the right to swap second-round picks in 2021.
Rockets traded James Ennis for swap rights to a 2021 second-round pick, sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @WatchStadium. https://t.co/I7ztF23sr3
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 7, 2019
The move amounts to little more than a salary dump for the Rockets, who save on Ennis’ $2.4 million deal, and are now just $2.4 million away from getting under the luxury tax line, and it also created a trade exception.
Houston is inching their way closer to getting under the luxury tax. The Rockets save $2.4M with the James Ennis trade to Philadelphia and are now $2.4M above the tax threshold. Houston started the season with a tax bill of $14.6M. Houston will create a $1.6M trade exception.
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) February 7, 2019
As for Ennis, yesterday’s trade for Iman Shumpert and Nik Stauskas gave the Rockets a glut of wing players jostling for minutes, and that means Houston likely expects Shumpert to step in right away and give the Rockets the same things Ennis was offering. With head coach Mike D’Antoni’s notoriously short rotations, especially come playoff time, the redundancy of the two players means Ennis had to go.
Good luck in Philly, James. At least you’re going from one contender to another.