The Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder have engineered a trade involving a total of eight players. Derrick Favors switches from the Thunder to the Rockets, who also get a second-round pick.
This is reported by Adrian Wojnarowski (ESPN). In addition to Favors, Ty Jerome, Théo Maledon and Moe Harkless will all have to move to Houston. The Thunder will receive David Nwaba, Sterling Brown, Trey Burke and Marquese Chriss in return. Houston had acquired many of these players from the Mavs in the Christian Wood trade.
From a purely sporting point of view, this deal will not be of great importance, but financial aspects probably played a role in why the Thunder and Rockets carried out the trade. Oklahoma City gets two trade exceptions in the deal and saves about a million dollars in salary. With Houston picking up more salary in the deal, the Rockets will get a 2025 second-round pick that OKC jointly acquired with Harkless from Atlanta just this week (for Vit Krejci).
The Thunder are now $10 million below the luxury tax limit. The 31-year-old Favors wasn’t part of the franchise’s long-term future anyway. Whether the Rockets plan with him is also open. Favors (expiring contract, $10.2 million) could take on a role as a backup center or re-enter the trade market soon. Last season he put up 5.3 points and 4.7 rebounds in a good 16 minutes per game.
After the trade, both teams still have 18 players with a guaranteed contract in the roster, which must be reduced to 15 players by the start of the season. Many of the players involved in this trade are likely to face layoffs. Only Maledon and Nwaba have contracts beyond next season, however these are team options for 2023/24.
NBA: The trade between the Thunder and Rockets in the overview
| Thunder received | received rockets |
| David Nwaba | Derrick Favors |
| Sterling Brown | You Jerome |
| Trey Burke | Theo Maledon |
| Marquese Chriss | Moe Harkless |
| – | Second-round pick 2025 (via Atlanta) |
