Rockets acquire Derrick Favors, second-round pick, plus others in trade with Thunder

Sep 30, 2022 - 11:03 AM

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The Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder swung an eight-player trade on Thursday night, with Houston sending David Nwaba, Sterling Brown, Marquese Chriss, and Trey Burke to OKC in exchange for Derrick Favors, Moe Harkless, Ty Jerome , Theo Maledon and a second-round pick.

The only one of those guys that really could see time is Favors, as the Rockets have an open competition at the backup center spot, and Favors’ defense and shot blocking ability (1.2 blocks per game for his career) could see him competing for time behind starter Alperen Sengun. After Sengun, it’s Usman Garuba, Bruno Fernando, and Boban Marjanovich, so it’s entirely possible Favors is your backup five for 2022-2023. He also has an expiring $10 million contract.

Harkless is also on expiring deal, and with Houston’s depth at forward, it’s hard to envision him seeing the court, and Ty Jerome is also expiring. I guess there’s an outside shot for Jerome as a backup guard but the Rockets certainly won’t be in a hurry to find him playing time.

As for Maledon, he’s got two more seasons on his contract and the Rockets aren’t exactly settled at backup point guard. Maledon had a decent rookie season in OKC, but slipped in his sophomore year and desperately needs to improve his shooting (career 37.1 percent from the field and 32.2 percent from deep) if he’s to make any headway.

It’s also entirely possible none of these guys see the floor for the Rockets, though Favors is certainly your best bet.

As for the second-round pick, it’s a 2025 pick that originally came from the Atlanta Hawks, so it’ll be a few years before Houston sees any benefit from that, unless of course they use it for trade fodder themselves.

So how you feeling about this deal, TDS? Make sure you tell us in the comments below.