火箭裁掉三名训练营受邀球员

The Rockets have waived wing Bryce Harris, forward Cameron Matthews, and guard Caleb McConnell, per NBA.com’s official transaction log.

All three players were on Exhibit 10 contracts and are expected to end up with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, Houston’s G League affiliate. They’ll be eligible for bonuses worth up to $91K if they spend at least 60 days with the Vipers.

Following today’s cuts, the Rockets have 18 players under contract, but only two of those 18 are on two-way deals, which means the team will have to make at least one more move before Monday’s deadline to set regular season rosters. Houston has 12 players on fully guaranteed contracts, with Jae’Sean Tate on a partially guaranteed deal, Isaiah Crawford on a non-guaranteed deal, and Oscar Tshiebwe and Julian Phillips still on Exhibit 10 contracts.

It appears likely that either Tshiebwe or Phillips will be converted to a two-way deal on or before Monday. If the Rockets take that route, that might end up being their only transaction, since they could simply convert the other Exhibit 10 player to a standard, non-guaranteed contract and enter the season with a full 15-man roster.

However, the Rockets are operating just $14K below the luxury tax line and keeping a 15th man would push them into tax territory, so there has been an expectation that they’ll keep that last spot open to begin the season.

If the Rockets waive a player on a non-guaranteed contract on Sunday or Monday, they’d incur a small cap hit; in order to avoid that, they could convert either Tshiebwe or Phillips to a two-way deal, then waive that player and convert the other one to a two-way deal. We’ll find out by Monday what Houston’s plan is.