The mid-season trading door officially opened, most teams want to take this opportunity to change the team's current unsatisfactory state, the Rockets this season to train new people, will be the most active team in the free market, but compared to the trade operation, the team's top priority is to keep Matthews, after Green was injured, Matthews became one of the team's 7 biggest contributors to the game, contributing 16.1 points 3.4 boards 1.1 breaks per game, 44.8% of three-point shooting, averaging 3.7 shots per game, without a single mistake.
Speaking of Matthews, he is an older lost draft, entered the league in 2019, played for the Wizards for 2 years, he is a no-ball pitcher, fully capable of the rotation lineup, because the Wizards got enough instant power through the trade of Westbrook, can only choose to give up Matthews, in the offseason there is actually a strong team in the East (for some reason not to mention the team name) to provide him with a two-way contract, but Matthews is still very confident in his own strength, if he stays in the strong team, he can only spend next to the water dispenser, He then accepted the Rockets, who were also offered a two-way contract, and he believed that he would have the opportunity to prove himself after rebuilding the team.
At present, Matthews is right to gamble, he got a formal contract for 4 years and 8.2 million from the Rockets, a team can only have up to 15 players with formal contracts, want to turn Matthews' two-way contract positive, must complete the transaction or lay off employees, according to the Rockets decided to lay off House, vacate the position to sign Matthews, and rocket fans are extremely disgusted with House, in the early part of the season the Rockets expressed their love for House, in order to give him enough playing time, The team even refrigerated martin jr., a potential rookie who performed well last season.
However, House is not worthy of the trust of the team, and frequent injuries, but also playing iron continuously, averaging 14.6 minutes of playing time per game, can only get 4.8 points and 2.7 boards, shooting only 33.8%, completely lost himself, because House's contract this season is completely guaranteed, the Rockets cut him, if no one claims, they have to pay the full amount of 3.89 million this season, so that the Rockets who cut the goal are willing to give him 3.89 million in vain and dump him, which is enough to show that the team has indeed lost patience with him. He also completely lost the value of his transaction.
Of course, the Rockets acted so quickly to cut House to sign Matthews, rather than waiting for the opportunity to trade House, because after 7 consecutive wins, Matthews' performance declined, averaging only 11.6 points and 4.6 boards in the last 5 games, and the three-point shooting rate was 27.8%, at this time and Matthews talked about the contract, presumably can also guess the reason, that is, the price is depressed, let Matthews know that he is still not stable enough, the 4-year contract provided to him is only guaranteed in the first year of 2 million, and then the next three years are all insecure. From the details of the contract, you can see how shrewd the Rockets really are, if Matthews plays well, there will only be 6.2 million in the next 3 years, if it does not play well, there will be no loss to give up directly next season.
In any case, the Rockets left Matthews is a wise choice, and although Matthews may get a contract that is lower than expected, at least this is a formal contract, much higher than the price of a two-way contract, as long as he can make his performance more stable, he is not yet 30 years old in the contract year, he can fight for a contract again, and it is also a formal foothold in the league.