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The Houston Rockets made a group of moves tonight, when they kicked things off by releasing Danuel House.
ESPN Sources: The Rockets are waiving forward Danuel House, allowing him to find a new team in the final year of his deal. Rockets are assigning his minutes to younger players and won’t hold him on roster to wait on a finding a deadline trade.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) December 18, 2021
House had no real usefulness on the Houston roster at this point, as he’s best served as role player on a more talented roster rather than a veteran looking for minutes as he was on the Rockets.
Houston then followed up that move by signing Garrison Mathews, formerly on a two-way deal, to a long-term contract.
Sources: Rockets will use open roster spot to convert Garrison Mathews from a two-way deal to a 4-year contract worth more than $8 million. Houston is 7-4 with Mathews in starting lineup. He’s averaged 14.5 points with 63.5 TS% in those games. https://t.co/sxWodXSPvi
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) December 18, 2021
But it doesn’t end there, as the Rockets had an open two-way deal after promoting Mathews, so they signed guard Trevelin Queen, who’s spent time with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, Houston’s G-League team.
The Rockets are signing guard Trevelin Queen to a two-way deal, his agent Daniel Hazan of Hazan Sports tell ESPN. Queen will join the Rockets in Detroit on Saturday.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) December 18, 2021
Queen averaged 22 points, 6.2 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and 2.9 steals per game over 10 contests with RGV this season, and the Rockets want to see if he has anything to offer at the next level, especially with so many injuries and a roster in flux.
Danuel House hasn’t been the same since the infamous NBA Bubble incident, and he lost any good will he had previously built up with the fan base. It’ll be interesting to see where he ends up.
Mathews has been one of Houston’s surprise bright spots this year, averaging 12.3 points per game and shooting 36.2 percent from beyond the arc. He’s been so instrumental in the Rockets bouncing back from a 15-game losing streak that he’s gotten the name Garry Bird from the fanbase. We’ll see what he can do with this long term deal.
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