After missing out on Chris Bosh, the Houston Rockets will sign free agent small forward Trevor Ariza to a four-year, $32 million contract.
Trevor Ariza will sign with Rockets on 4-year contract worth $32 million. (via ESPN & multiple reports) pic.twitter.com/l5JIlDFZjG
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) July 12, 2014
Chris Bosh had been widely expected to accept a Houston’s four-year, $88 million offer after LeBron James announced his decision to sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Miami Heat, however, ramped up their efforts to re-sign him, and Bosh eventually signed a five-year, $118 million deal with the team following a meeting with Pat Riley.
Trevor Ariza, who is 29-years-old and also played for the Houston Rockets during the 2009-10 NBA season, has spent the last two years with the Washington Wizards. Last season, he averaged 14.4 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game. He shot 45.6 percent from the field and 40.7 percent from beyond the arc.
The move comes after Rockets restricted free agent small forward Chandler Parsons signed a three-year, $46 million offer sheet with the Dallas Mavericks. Houston has until Sunday night to decide whether or not they will match the offer, which will pay Parsons upwards of $15 million per season. Houston needed to make this signing, and possibly another, before officially matching the Parsons offer sheet in order to maximize the cap space that they currently have available.
Earlier in the week the Rockets dealt backup point guard Jeremy Lin to the Los Angeles Lakers to create cap space for free agency. They also dealt big man Omer Asik to the Charlotte Hornets in order to create space at the NBA Draft in late June. Now it appears that they will not be able to add a big name to the Harden/Howard duo as they planned and are onto plan b.
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