NBA Free Agency: Raptors' Bruce Brown to Rockets?
The Houston Rockets have proven this season that all their free agency spending hasn't been enough to build a winner just yet, and adjustments will have to be made this offseason.
Those adjustments can come with developing the young core, making trades or dipping back into the free agency market.
Bleacher Report suggests that the Rockets should look towards free agency for some upgrades, namely Toronto Raptors guard Bruce Brown if he declines his player option for next season.
"There's plenty of ball-handling tied up in VanVleet, Thompson and Jalen Green. But he does create some, and his experience as the rim-runner in inverted pick-and-rolls would come in handy with the aforementioned playmakers. He can bring some defense and attitude that's missing from a lot of other free agents, too," Bleacher Report writes.
Brown, 27, is averaging a career-best 11.2 points per game with the Raptors and Indiana Pacers this season. Brown was dealt by the Pacers to the Raptors as part of the Pascal Siakam trade last month. Many thought Brown would be a candidate to be dealt at the deadline earlier this month with the Raptors not in playoff contention, but Toronto opted to keep him.
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Brown would add a strong defensive presence to the Rockets alongside Dillon Brooks. He would also add some championship pedigree from his run last summer with the Denver Nuggets, which helped him garner a two-year, $45 million contract last offseason.
If he were to opt out of his deal, he would likely expect around $25 million per year in free agency, a sum that the Rockets could hypothetically pay him given the lack of big contracts on the roster.