The Rockets had themselves a busy news day on Friday. The Trevelin Queen news was buried a bit, but more on him in a second.
They started the evening by waiving hometown forward Danuel House. House was once seen as an early unanimous success story of the NBA's two-way contract system. After struggling to get on the floor the last two seasons, House' trade value was in the tank. It was oddly poetic that Houston used his roster spot that evening to convert two-way swingman Garrison Mathews to a four year, $8.2 million contract.
That was the big news and the one Rockets fans were most excited about. However, Houston didn't stop there. With a two-way spot in-hand, the Rockets swiftly signed guard Trevelin Queen immediately after converting Mathews. Queen had been in Houston's farm system on and off for the past two years and this is really his first big break. He averaged 22.0 points, 6.2 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and 2.9 steals on 60.3% true shooting with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers this season, showing real growth from the season prior.
Queen is a big, 6'6″ guard with a nearly 6'8″ wingspan who will turn 25 years in two months. He's showed some 3-and-D promise dating back to his days at New Mexico State. His steal rate is hard not to raise your eyebrow at. His frame is also very translatable to the NBA level. By all accounts, he was a very good defender in college and it was part of the reason he still ended up in a program after going undrafted in 2020. He also had a good showing for the Rockets in Summer League, averaging 13.2 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 2.0 steals on 59.2% true shooting.
Trevelin Queen is expected to be in the building when the Rockets take on the Detroit Pistons on Saturday morning. It's pretty unlikely he'll play, but the Rockets are short on bodies so theoretically, everything's on the table. Injury spells are how Danuel House and Garrison Mathews both initially secured their rotation spots. It won't come up, but Queen is limited to 50 NBA games this year per the terms of his two-way.
The Rockets only have 53 games remaining, so it's unlikely to be a problem. However, it's worth remembering that nobody expected House to run out of NBA days in 2018-19 and he did. The circumstances are different obviously. The Rockets are no longer right up against the luxury tax so they can convert players like Garrison Mathews and possibly Queen if he proves worthy. It's just worth noting how two-way deals are different than regular deals.
By and large, the Rockets have had pretty good success with two-way contracts. Danuel House, Armoni Brooks, and Garrison Mathews are all products of their successful gambles. And lets' be clear: these two-way deals are gambles. Most don't work out and it's really just a tool for front offices to get a closer look before committing (or not committing) to a player. It'll be interesting to see if in a few months, Trevelin Queen starts looking like another one of Houston's success stories. These things are really hard to predict, but Houston's front office has done a nice job finding gems.
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