Houston Rockets: Trade With Detroit Pistons Is Voided

The Houston Rockets’ season from hell took a step into the surreal on Monday when the trade of Donatas Motiejunas to the Detroit Pistons was voided.

The Houston Rockets have proven yet again that if a thing can go wrong, it will go wrong. Over the weekend, following the Friday trade of Donatas Motiejunas and Marcus Thornton to the Detroit Pistons, a waiting game developed regarding the status of Motiejunas’ back injury.

DMo underwent surgery to repair a herniated disc in April and has missed most of this season as he recovered and dealt with lingering back pain.

All players must pass a physical for any trade to be made final, and the Pistons requested 72 hours to complete Motiejunas’ physical. They were granted that extension from the usual 24 hours, which right off the bat seemed like bad news for the trade, given that it revealed that the Pistons had serious concerns about his health.

Finally, Monday afternoon the hammer dropped on the trade.

This trade falling through is much worse for the Rockets than it is for the Pistons. First off, the Rockets must relinquish the first round pick in the 2016 draft that the Pistons sent in exchange. That pick only had top-eight protection, and the Pistons are in free-fall, having lost five straight coming into Monday’s meeting with the Cleveland Cavaliers. That may very well be a lottery pick by the time the season ends, and that is no longer in the Rockets’ control.

Next, the Rockets took on Joel Anthony‘s contract in the trade, worth $2.5 million this year, and swapped it to the Philadelphia 76ers for a second round draft pick. This was a salary dump to get the organization under the luxury tax, but now that the trade has been voided, Anthony goes back to the Pistons and the Rockets have to add that $2.5 million back to the books. Thus, no luxury tax relief.

Finally, the Piston organization deemed that Motiejunas is unfit to play. Late Friday night, Piston head coach and president of basketball operations Stan Van Gundy indicated that if Motiejunas was just dealing with back spasms, the team would be willing to deal with blocks of games missed here and there.

"“Obviously, it’s real key to get that checked out,” Van Gundy said. “But we have an understanding. One of the guys that was with him in Houston, a guy I know, likened it to what (the Los Angeles Clippers‘ J.J.) Redick had. He said there will be occasional flare-ups, which J.J. had a little bit this year, but for the most part OK.”If it’s just an occasional bout with back spasms, “you’re going to live with a guy missing three or four games every once in a while, to get a guy of his talent, yeah,” Van Gundy said."

This news means that Motiejunas is not remotely close to being able to see regular, if intermittent, action.

So not only do the Rockets not have the Pistons’ pick and not get under the luxury tax line, they also don’t have the same player they had hoped they had in the form of a Donatas Motiejunas almost ready to get back on the floor on a regular basis.

Next: The NBA's 50 Greatest Duos Of All Time

All in all, this is terrible news for a Rocket organization that has had very little go right this season. If nothing else, here’s hoping that Motiejunas can return to some semblance of health soon, as much for himself as for the Houston Rockets.