The Houston Rockets are behind. The hot start of the post-James Harden era stopped screaming as soon as Christian Wood sprained his right ankle, and now the Rockets have lost ten games in a row. Since their playoff hopes have probably expired, it’s time for Houston to consider giving its veterans to competing teams. It is not surprising that one attracts interest from across the league: PJ Tucker.
Reports linked the Milwaukee Bucks with Houston’s stalwart defender earlier this week. Now Kelly Iko of The Athletic reports that three other teams are in the fray: the Brooklyn Nets, Denver Nuggets and Utah Jazz.
At least theoretically, Brooklyn had a chance to trade for Tucker earlier this season. They were already running a setup with the Rockets this season when they acquired James Harden. There is little reason to believe that the Nets at least did not ask for Tucker at that point, but given the hectic nature of the negotiations, it is possible that Brooklyn simply did not push the issue. However, it is worth noting that the Rockets are already controlling Brooklyn for the first time in the next seven years. If the Nets still had something Houston wanted, it would probably be withdrawn in the Harden agreement.
Denver, of course, fits Tucker. The Nuggets are currently 21st in defense, and injuries have exhausted much of their depth. The departure of Jerami Grant in the position of Tucker did not help during the off-season. Tucker is not the spacer that Grant appears to be, but he could play a similar role in defense at a lower price. Tucker is earning only about $ 8 million this season. This salary would fit in with the trade exception that Denver got in the Grant sign-and-trade deal with Detroit, even though it would take the Nuggets beyond the luxury tax. However, Denver has a hard limit on the $ 138.9 million advance, so he must be careful to manage the rest of his roster.
Utah will trade much harder for Tucker. They are already over the tax line, and like the Nuggets, they are severely restricted. At the moment, they have a bit of winding space below the line, but they have a sufficient trading exception to simply take up Tucker. They will have to send out corresponding salary, and with the way their roster is put together, they just do not have much of it available. The Jazz have eight players on their roster earning more than $ 2 million. The eight players, Donovan Mitchell, Rudy Gobert, Mike Conley, Joe Ingles, Bojan Bogdanovic, Jordan Clarkson, Derrick Favors and Royce O’Neale, happen to be eight frontrunners in Utah within minutes. All of their meaningful salaries happen to be important parts of their rotation, so they do not have a clear method of acquiring Tucker without compromising the success of their current group.
More candidates are likely to take the fight if Tucker becomes truly available. Despite his age (36) and declining three-point shooting (he used only 31.6 percent of his efforts this season), his record as a small ball five in the post-season will appeal to any team with serious championship aspirations have.