The Houston Rockets are expected to sign soon-to-be free agent Brandan Wright, who is in the process of being bought out by the Memphis Grizzlies, according to Yahoo Sports’ Shams Charania.
Rockets expected to sign Brandan Wright after buyout, per report
Houston will add the high-flying big man if he clears waivers.
Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports
Wright will need to clear waivers after he completes the buyout process with Memphis, which is ongoing as of Friday evening, according to Charania. That’s expected to happen, with Wright in the final year of his deal making about $6 million this season.
Although Wright has been hampered with injury issues the last two seasons, where he played just 40 games combined, he has been healthy this year. Memphis has only played him in 27 games, although many of his absences have been due to coach’s decisions. In about 14 minutes per game, Wright is averaging 5.0 points and 3.4 rebounds on 57.6 percent shooting from the floor.
Why the Rockets want Wright
When healthy, Wright is a high-flying rim-runner who can throw down lobs and finish at an extremely high clip. In fact, he once shot nearly 75 percent across 27 games in Dallas before being dealt in an infamous Rajon Rondo deal, and that Dallas team was set up with similar spacing to Houston’s three-point heavy approach.
Houston has big men — Clint Capela, Nene, and Tarik Black — but all have dealt with injuries this year, and Nene plays extremely limited minutes even when healthy. Wright is an offensive upgrade over Black, and his skillset should more closely resemble Capela’s, with the ability to sky for alley-oops and reliably hit paint shots.
The Rockets only have 14 players under NBA contracts currently, meaning they can sign Wright outright without making any changes to their roster.
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