As part of the massive tradeoff James Harden sent to Brooklyn, the Houston Rockets include Victor Oladipo of Indiana, Dante Exum of Cleveland, and Rodions Kurucs of the Nets.
In terms of roster spots, that comes to three players coming in and just one going out, which would put the Rockets over the NBA finish. So someone else had to go for the trade to be legal, and it looks like someone will be 25-year-old Bruno Caboclo.
Per Ionatan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle, the Rockets release Caboclo Thursday before ending the trade.
Caboclo, who renamed Houston in due course, had not been playing in mop-up duty since former center DeMarcus Cousins returned from quarantine. Between Cousins, starting Christian Wood, and smaller series featuring either Jae’Sean Tate or PJ Tucker in the middle, there didn’t seem to be a way for Caboclo to crack Stephen Silas’ rotation. At 6-foot-9 and nearly 230 pounds, the Kurucs might also fit into that equation.
In six appearances this season, Caboclo scored an average of 2.8 points (47.1% FG) and 2.3 rebounds in 6.0 minutes. His minimum wage would not be fully guaranteed to February 27th, so the release of Caboclo also helps the Rockets stay under the yoke of hard pay and luxury tax thresholds.