The Houston Rockets did not have the cap space to directly sign Chris Paul in free agency and one way the team’s front office could pull it off was if they were able to let go of Ryan Anderson in a trade, per ESPN's Marc Stein.
Finding a trade partner, who would swallow the remaining $61.3 million on his contract that won’t expire until 2020, proved to be too big of a hurdle for such a deal to push through, however.
As it turned out, the Rockets managed to snag Paul from the L.A. Clippers without cutting ties with Anderson though there’s no reason for the power forward to feel entirely confident that he’ll be in a Rockets uniform next season. There are still rumors swirling around that general manager Daryl Morey is far from done in his quest to further make this offseason crazier, as he attempts to land Houston another big time player.
Per Jeff Goodman of ESPN Insider:
Rockets GM Daryl Morey not done yet, source told ESPN. Harden and CP3. Will try and add a third star to compete with Warriors.
The demand for big men who could stretch the floor with their shooting touch has never been highlighted more than in today’s NBA landscape. Anderson, who averaged 13.6 points on 41.8 shooting percentage (40.3% from deep) and 4.6 rebounds per game last season, will always generate interest from several teams as long as he’s healthy but for now, he’s seemingly considered as an expandable asset ready to be shipped if it meant acquiring another star for Houston.
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