As speculation continues to rise trumpeting LeBron James‘ possibly imminent decision to go to the Cavs after his meeting with Pat Riley on Wednesday evening, the aftershocks are being felt around the league, especially with the Rockets. The New York Daily News reports they’ve got a deal in place sending Jeremy Lin and a first-round draft pick to the Sixers if James leaves Miami and Chris Bosh signs the maximum contract offer from Houston.
While there were conflicting reports of a tacit agreement between the Rockets and Bosh should James choose to return to Ohio, the Rockets are prepared to open up the cap space necessary to sign Miami’s stretch power forward to a four-year, $88-million deal.
Aside from LeBron’s actual confirmation of his move back to Cleveland, part of signing Bosh for the Rockets means unloading Lin and his expiring contract. The three-year, $25-million deal Jeremy signed in the summer of 2012 included a balloon payment that almost doubles the cap hit of $8.374, with the Rockets still owing Lin $14,898,938.
Now the Sixers — everybody’s favorite dumping ground for expiring contracts as GM Sam Hinkie continues to free up cap space and develop a young roster packed with rookie deals — are looking to take him off their hands. Hinkie’s interest in Lin isn’t new, he worked with Lin under GM Daryl Morey in Houston before coming to Philadelphia last summer.
The Sixers also reportedly wanted a future first rounder as an added concession to take on Lin’s deal despite a number of young players in their backcourt. While Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News doesn’t explicitly mention the particulars of the deal, it’s not a stretch to imagine the Rockets acquiesced on the demand:
In a potential cap-clearing move to make room for Chris Bosh, the Rockets have a deal in place to send Jeremy Lin to the Sixers, according to league sources.
The deal hinges on whether LeBron James goes to Cleveland. If he returns to the Cavs, then Bosh is almost guaranteed to also leave Miami and head to Houston. To give Bosh a four-year, $88 million deal, the Rockets have to create cap space and can do that by trading Lin, the ex-Knick who will make almost $15 million next season.
The Rockets are in a bind after restricted free agent Chandler Parsons signed a three-year, $45-million offer sheet with the Mavs yesterday. They need to create enough cap room to give Bosh the max deal while also matching Dallas’ offer. If LeBron takes too much time deciding, and Houston fails to get everything worked out in the allotted 72 hours needed to match, they could risk losing Parsons while also losing Bosh if James decides to re-sign with Miami.
For Philadelphia, this wasn’t just an opportunity for another first-round pick and Lin’s expiring deal freeing up more than $8 million next summer. The Sixers also get a more experienced guard to come off the bench — as he ended up doing for Houston at the end of last season — and mentor 2013 Rookie of the Year, Michael Carter-Williams. He’ll also help alleviate some of the scoring load form MCW since Nerlens Noel missed his entire rookie campaign coming back from a torn ACL, and this year’s No. 3 pick Joel Embiid is expected to miss significant time after fracturing his foot before the draft.
Does this deal make sense for Philly?
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