After the Houston Rockets lost in the Western Conference semifinals, the prospect of a roster shakeup is suggested as something that could be in the works.
One report indicates that veteran Chris Paul could be one of the candidates to be moved, with the Miami Heat being one of teams possibly interested in acquiring him.
Sean Deveney of Sporting News noted that a number of teams might be willing to work out a deal with the Rockets:
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“Charlotte and Miami are among the teams that could be interested in Paul. Phoenix is weighing its options at point guard, but there is an outside chance they’d get involved. And keep an eye on the Lakers or Knicks – it’s likely that one of them will strike out in free agency and need a face-saving trade to rescue the summer. Paul is a face-saving trade target.”
Paul turned 34 last month and hasn’t played in more than 61 regular season games over the past three seasons. While his scoring dipped during the 2018-19 season, he still finished with averages of 15.6 points, 4.6 rebounds and 8.2 assists.
However, he still has three more years to run on the four-year, $160 million contract he signed last year. The amounts he’ll be paid are staggering: $38.5 million in 2019-20, $41.36 million in 2020-21 and a player option of $44.2 million in 2021-22.
Numbers like those could make it difficult for the Rockets to trade him, since the massive salary would take a huge chunk out of a team’s payroll. With respect to the Heat, they would have to get rid of multiple high-salaried players simply to make a deal work.
While the price to acquire Paul likely wouldn’t be high, since it would effectively be a salary dump, it’s uncertain how much Paul could help a team get to the next level. In his 14 seasons, his team has never played in, much less won, an NBA Finals.
That history, coupled with the huge contract and durability issues, may end up keeping the idea of seeing Paul in a Heat uniform as simply a rumor.
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