The NBA offseason is in full swing right now. With teams trying to solidify their roster before the preseason and players looking for trades, the league is seeing many teams pull off some moves or the other to tweak their rosters.
Teams like the Oklahoma City Thunder and Houston Rockets, meanwhile, are being considered salary dump teams, meaning that they afford to take a massive contract in exchange for a couple of players for a contender. While many have speculated the same, that hasn’t been the case so far. Both the Rockets and the Thunder have drafted pretty well and added some more young players to their rotation.
Thunder Trade Derrick Favors To The Houston Rockets
While the two teams haven’t been that active in the trade market, it seems like the Thunder are trying to build an even younger squad for the 2022-23 season.
Recently, ESPN insider Adrian Wojnarowski revealed that the Thunder are trading Derrick Favors, Ty Jerome, Moe Harkless, Theo Maledon, and a 2025 second-round pick via Atlanta to bring in David Nwaba, Sterling Brown, Trey Burke, and Marquese Chriss.
ESPN Sources: The Oklahoma City Thunder are trading Derrick Favors, Ty Jerome, Moe Harkless, Theo Maledon and a 2025 second-round pick via Atlanta to the Houston Rockets for David Nwaba, Sterling Brown, Trey Burke and Marquese Chriss.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) September 30, 2022
This move by the Thunder is to drop around $10 million in luxury tax and is majorly a cap-centric move by the two teams. For Rockets, meanwhile, Favors will be a tradable asset. Given that many contenders might value a player like Favors, the Rockets can acquire a pick or two for the veteran.
Both the Thunder and the Rockets are in a very similar situation going into the 2022-23 season. With two of the youngest rosters in the league, the Thunder and the Rockets will focus on giving the majority of their minutes to their younger players.
With players like Jalen Green and Josh Giddey, who had decent rookie seasons in the league, the teams certainly have multiple solid younger talents to develop. Both of these teams might be lottery teams in the 2022-23 season, but they have the potential to become contenders in the long run.
