Veteran guard Eric Gordon is currently having the best shooting season of his NBA career, and at 33 years old, he’s not an ideal timeline fit with the young and rebuilding Houston Rockets. Yet, that doesn’t mean that a deal is inevitable as this season’s Feb. 10 trade deadline nears.
From the latest Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective podcast, ESPN reporter Tim MacMahon says of Gordon and the Rockets:
I don’t get the sense that they’re eager to dump Eric Gordon. I do think they’d have to feel like they’re getting value in return.
However, MacMahon did note one factor that could point to a deal eventually being consummated before the Feb. 10 trade deadline.
(General manager) Rafael Stone does want to have a reputation as somebody who tries to do right by players. Clearly, Eric Gordon is at a point in his career where he would prefer to be playing for a playoff team. He would prefer to be playing for a contender.
Gordon averages 14.7 points and 3.4 assists in 29.4 minutes per game this season, and his shooting percentages of 49.4% overall and 45.6% on 3-pointers are both career-highs for the 14-year NBA veteran. The 6-foot-4 guard remains a strong and versatile defender, as well.
Both Windhorst and MacMahon pointed to Cleveland as a potential fit for Gordon, since the Cavaliers appear likely to be a playoff team in the Eastern Conference but recently lost a pair of accomplished guards — Collin Sexton and Ricky Rubio — to season-ending injuries.
Moreover, because Cleveland owns both its own first-round draft pick in 2022 and Houston’s second-round draft pick — which is likely to be very high, since the Rockets currently have the NBA’s third-worst record — the Cavaliers do have potentially attractive trade assets.
Ricky Rubio and the Cavs' lottery protected first for Eric Gordon makes so much sense. He's by far the best option here (I'm sorry if it's too early) https://t.co/qRfIgjqJaa
— DGC (@Itamar_17_10) December 29, 2021
Gordon makes just over $18.2 million in 2021-22, and since nearly all NBA teams are above the salary cap during the season, any team trading for Gordon would need to send out close to that much money in order for a trade to be permissible under the league’s collective bargaining agreement. But in the case of the Cavaliers, Rubio makes a nearly identical annual amount and is on an expiring deal, as well. That could make him ideal for salary matching purposes, and there’s no real downside to Cleveland because Rubio is already out for the season.
Gordon is under contract for the 2022-23 season, as well, which means the Rockets could wait on a trade until the 2022 offseason if proposals at the deadline aren’t to Stone’s liking. But between Gordon’s career shooting year, his apparent desire at 33 to play for a contender, and Stone’s goal of being seen as someone who does right by players, the most likely scenario appears to be a deal in the coming weeks.
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