Houston Rockets Cut Ties With Marcus Thornton

The Houston Rockets, fresh off a spectacular 119-105 comeback win over the Portland Trail Blazers last night, could be short two men on their current roster.

With the trade deadline having came and went, the next deadline is for waivers where there’s expected to be a small crop of talent available that can latch on to other teams, especially those that are on stretch runs for the playoffs.

But here’s the kicker.

It has been confirmed that the Rockets are currently exploring the idea of buying out the contracts of guard Ty Lawson and forward Marcus Thornton.

We at least know now that the Rockets have decided to part ways with Thornton with the Lawson domino to likely to fall soon.

Adrian Wojnarowski of the The Vertical reports:

The Houston Rockets are waiving guard Marcus Thornton, league sources tell @TheVertical.
— Ball Don’t Lie (@Balldontlie) February 26, 2016

This news doesn’t come as too much surprise as he was involved in a three-team trade that included he and Donatas Motiejunas to the Detroit Pistons that was just voided earlier this week because of concerns about D-Mo’s back status.

The Rockets signed Thornton back last July for the veteran’s minimum ($1.19 million with his six years of service) in hopes that he’d bolster the once-burgeoning team bench.

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However, over time, Thornton had fell out of the rotation, the entire bench production imploded and had struggled to find an identity in the whole grand scheme of things.

In my opinion, the biggest weakness he had was his lack of consistent defense when he was out on the floor.

Well all knew that he was a sharpshooter and could grab a key board or two but if one’s not playing defense in this system, then one’s value starts to diminish.

That’s what was happening with Thornton.