Report: Rockets still showing trade interest in Robert Covington

Shams Charania says Houston is one of three teams with interest in Wolves forward Robert Covington. Here’s what a deal might look like.

Confirming an earlier report from The Ringer in December, The Athletic‘s Shams Charania wrote Thursday that the Houston Rockets are among three teams that have expressed trade interest in forward Robert Covington from the Minnesota Timberwolves.

In his new story, Charania writes:

Rival teams also say the market for forward Robert Covington has been heating up over recent days. Covington has become a coveted player, with his defensive prowess and outside shooting an ideal fit for most teams in the playoff hunt. Houston, Dallas and Philadelphia are among the teams who have expressed interest in Covington, but Minnesota is expected to drive a hard bargain, league sources said.

Known best for his defense, the 6-foot-7 Covington is averaging 12.7 points (44.1% shooting, 35.5% on three-pointers) and 5.7 rebounds in 28.7 minutes per game this season. The 29-year-old is signed through the 2021-22 season at an annual average of just over $12 million.

In last weekend’s Minnesota loss at Houston, Covington had 11 points, seven rebounds, six steals, and two blocks in 27 minutes (box score).

Any trade for a significant salary such as Covington is tricky for the Rockets, who are well above the league’s salary cap. This means they have to send out close to as much money as they take in to make a trade permissible under the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

Eric Gordon cannot be traded this season due to the timing of his contract extension, and the other four significant contracts on the Rockets (James Harden, Russell Westbrook, Clint Capela, and P.J. Tucker) are unlikely to be dealt for Covington because they’re superior players. Excluding those five, every other player on the current Houston roster makes approximately $3.5 million or less.

The Rockets do have assets that could tempt the seemingly rebuilding Timberwolves (15-25) in a trade, since both of Houston’s 2020 and 2022 first-round draft picks are eligible to be dealt. But to make a deal legal under the CBA, the Rockets would have to send out close to $9 million in salary along with any picks.

Now that Nene ($2.6 million) is trade eligible, the Rockets could theoretically trade Nene, Danuel House Jr. ($3.5 million), and two other minimum “filler” salaries — such as Tyson Chandler and Thabo Sefolosha — to get close to Covington’s salary, along with requisite draft assets.

Since House recently fell out of Houston’s starting lineup, that could indicate that he’s seen as more expendable by the Rockets. In turn, House’s $3.5-million salary would make a deal slightly easier to pull off than with an asset making the minimum, such as Ben McLemore.

[lawrence-related id=22019,21732]

But the challenge in any four-for-one scenario is that Minnesota would have to open up three extra roster spots after trading Covington to make such a deal legal, and that seems unlikely.

More realistically, Rockets GM Daryl Morey might be able to create a three or four-team deal with enough open roster spots to make that type of structure workable. It would also require owner Tilman Fertitta greenlighting luxury tax payments, since trading four players for one and then filling out the depth chart with subsequent moves would push Houston well over the tax line — which they’re already close to.

Minnesota’s president of basketball operations is Gersson Rosas, who has an extensive relationship with the Rockets after serving beneath Morey as the top lieutenant on the basketball operations staff for several years. That certainly wouldn’t seem to hurt the odds of a deal.

The NBA’s trade deadline is three weeks from this Thursday on Feb. 6. However, given that the Rockets (26-14) have lost three of their last four games and have a very challenging schedule coming up, they could prefer to make a roster upgrade sooner rather than later.

[lawrence-related id=22135,22087]