Houston Rockets: 3 trades that send Andre Drummond to Houston

Houston Rockets Andre Drummond Trade #3

For the Houston Rockets to make a trade for Andre Drummond they’re going to need a little help from a third party to make it work. The primary reason all stems back to the James Harden trade.

While the majority of assets that changed hands went between the Rockets and the Brooklyn Nets, both the Indiana Pacers and Cleveland Cavaliers got into the mix as well. As part of the four-team mega-trade, Dante Exum was sent from the Cavaliers to Houston for salary purposes.

Exum is set to make $9.6 million this season which means moving him will be instrumental in allowing the Rockets to stay under the hard cap but since he was just sent out of Cleveland it’s unlikely that they’d take him back. Exum needs to go and he needs to not go to the Cavaliers, which is why a third team will almost certainly come into the fold.

In this deal, the Nuggets get P.J. Tucker, Dante Exum, and Rodions Kurucs, while the Cavaliers land DeMarcus Cousins, Will Barton, and Danuel House. The best part of this deal is that it’s unlikely anyone would have to give up any draft picks to make the deal work.

The Nuggets get a player who can help them right now and the Cavaliers get two players who are under contract for next season who they can either flip or keep to help foster the development of their young core. The Rockets get their rebounding machine in Drummond and his presence could see Christian Wood get more minutes at power forward which offsets the loss of Tucker.

Everyone gets what they want in this trade and no one has to give up precious picks to do it. The Nuggets and Rockets will also see a lot of money coming off their books this summer from this deal which both could be interested in doing anyway.

Next: Trade #2