Houston Rockets: 3 trades that send Andre Drummond to Houston

Houston Rockets Andre Drummond Trade #2

This trade is a carbon copy, for the Rockets, as the last one, but it’s likely a deal that the Cavaliers would be more interested in. The Knicks are awash in cap space and can use it to add players who could help them make a surprise playoff push or be sent out for more future assets.

P.J. Tucker doesn’t fit the Kicks timeline, but neither does Derrick Rose and they just traded for him anyway. Tom Thibodeau is not the type of coach that is comfortable losing for the sake of ping-pong balls and P.J. Tucker could help the Knicks make the playoffs for the first time since 2013.

Danuel House has one more year on his deal and is a useful bench player and Dante Exum was a top-five pick that might need the right environment to finally realize his potential. The Cavaliers on the other hand get two players from the Knicks that need a change of scenery.

Frank Ntilikina has not developed as the Knicks had hoped but his skill set fits better with what the Cavaliers are building. He’s a defense-first point guard in the mold of Patrick Beverley that makes an awful lot of sense next to the Darius Garland and Collin Sexton, two defensive sieves who can score in bunches.

Kevin Knox has not panned out as the Knicks had hoped after selecting him with the ninth pick in the 2018 NBA draft. He’s a talented young player that desperately needs a change of scenery to restabilize his career.

For this trade to work, some draft picks might need to be included, but who sends them and how valuable they are, remains to be seen. The Rockets are getting a high priced rental and offloading real contributors, while the Cavaliers and Knicks are getting pieces that can help them this season and next.

In the end, the three may decide to swap picks in future drafts to make this deal go through but the draft pick compensation shouldn’t be high. That is unless the Cavaliers think Drummond is something that he is not.

Next: Trade #1