Rockets add Pablo Prigioni and KJ McDaniels
The 36-17 Houston Rockets don’t need a ton of help, and as the NBA trade deadline passed they came away with a few new additions that should help their bench a bit. Here’s the Houston Chronicle blog reporting:
Hoping to swing for the fences, the Rockets settled for a few trade deadline cuts they hope will become solid singles.
The Rockets did not come close to reaching the Suns’ asking price for guard Goran Dragic, backing away when it was clear they could not keep the free agent to be after the season. Instead, while several Western Conference playoff teams loaded up, the Rockets made smaller moves to pick up Knicks veteran point guard Pablo Prigioni and 76ers rookie small forward/shooting guard KJ McDaniels.
Neither is certain to move immediately into the Rockets’ rotation, though Prigioni offers a different style of point guard behind Pat Beverley than Jason Terry while still a catch-and-shoot threat. With Corey Brewer getting most of the small forward and shooting guard minutes off the bench, McDaniels is likely to serve an apprenticeship, with potential to fill the role if Brewer leaves as a free agent and the Rockets sign McDaniels.
For now, the Rockets settled for players they like, even if they do not have a clear role to play. To get Prigioni, the Rockets sent guard Alexey Shved and the Rockets’ second-round picks in 2017 and 2019 to New York.
