1. Houston Rockets
As we’ve covered before, the Houston Rockets have made themselves the front runners for the Iguodala sweepstakes.
The Rockets have had a tough time getting into the NBA Finals, mainly due to the powerhouse of the Golden State Warriors; a team that Iguodala was a key part of. If the Rockets want to make it past the new powerhouses in the Western Conference in the form of the two teams from LA, adding a former rival could be the way to go. Similar to how, and I hate to keep mentioning the 2012-13 Heat, the Heat brought on Ray Allen to ensure a strong Finals run.
The package that Houston would offer would include their 2020 first round draft pick, and the contract of Nene Hilario. Nene is currently on a 2-year, $20 million contract. However, the vast majority of that is in what the NBA calls “likely incentives” i.e. added bonuses to his contract that the NBA thinks will happen. Because of this, his salary for this year is inflated to $12 million; which is enough for a straight up trade for Iguodala.
Memphis would go for this because they’d only be on the hook for $2.6 million after trading Iguodala. Following that, they could cut Nene for no hit to their salary cap. T
he only downside is that, because Nene was signed late, this trade isn’t possible until mid-January. However, a tanking team in the Grizzlies won’t care about the hit to their record, and the Rockets would still get Iguodala in time for a Finals push.
It’s no doubt that Iguodala is going to be in the same category as Kevin Love for the top asset in this year’s trade frenzy. If the Grizzlies play their cards right, they might just get better assets in return for Iguodala.