Houston Rockets: Trevor Ariza rumors of him asking for $50M+ are false

The Houston Rockets are tip-toeing to the start of free agency and Daryl Morey has a lot of work to do in terms of trying to improve this team yet keep it together. Trevor Ariza still has tremendous value on the market but what’s the latest? Look.

Houston Rockets fans — we’re just two days away from the July 1 date of free agency and the NBA has been in a tizzy of activity right up until the start of the terrific date. The Houston Rockets have not been the center of most of the national rumors which have been centered around the Los Angeles Lakers.

Imagine that. The Lakers actually being relevant in free agency talks, let alone a coveted destination for free agents? That’s what Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka hope to do this off season over the next few seasons to turn that team into a powerhouse once again.

But enough about the Lake Show, let’s worry about what’s going on in H-Town. As you know, Trevor Ariza‘s contract will expire effective July 1 and he becomes an unrestricted free agent. He just completed a four-year, $32 million deal with the Houston Rockets and some of the latest rumors indicated that he wanted to fetch a multi-year deal as much as for $50 to $60 million.

Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports has shot down that rumor, indicating otherwise:

Sources: Houston free agent Trevor Ariza, one of the top wings on the market, plans to schedule meetings with interested teams after free agency opens July 1. No truth on Ariza demanding $50-60M.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 28, 2018

I’m sure it would be nice for Ariza to fetch that kind of money on the open market but he’d have to likely go a bad team that has wads of cash to blow like the Chicago Bulls or the Atlanta Hawks. Both teams are expected to have tons of cap space to work with and then there’s always the reliable Sacramento Kings as well who will have considerable space — not as much in the past — but will as well.

As it stands now, before any signings, each team has $39.5, $29.2 and $24.6 million respectively

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in the bank to spend.

However, Charania does not indicate which teams are interested as suitors but I’d imagine the aforementioned are in that mix to seek his services.

To stay with a contending team, he will have to likely take a pay cut, especially with the Golden State Warriors, who will likely be luxury taxpayers as well. ESPN’s Chris Haynes has even floated the idea of Ariza joining the Warriors to which I feel is an unforgivable move to make when these Houston Rockets were just one game away to get to the NBA Finals.

But there’s no questions that Ariza will entertain a plethora of offers because three-and-D style of play is what teams look for these days as the pace picks up with scoring and although I think he has slightly lost a step, he’s still very good at what he does.

His defensive win shares are up season-over-season, rising from 032 in 2016-17 to .043 this past season but his rating has slightly dropped to 107.1 from 104.3 in the season previous.

It will be a game of Russian Roulette for general manger Daryl Morey, who will have to make plethora of decisions in a short window of time to try prevent from losing any talent to free agency. The team is expected to sign Chris Paul and Clint Capela to lucrative deals which may leave little money available to sign Ariza to what he wants.

I’d love to have him back but not at the price that he’s rumored to be wanting to set for himself, there are viable options that we can explore other him and we’ll have to talk about that at another time.

Next: Five ways to replace Trevor Ariza

Ariza, 33, averaged 11.7 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.5 assists with a shooting line of .412/.368/.854 through 67 games in 2017-18.

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