Jeremy Lin Traded To The Los Angeles Lakers
Now that LeBron James has made his free agency decision, the rest of the league is likely going to follow suit.
The Houston Rockets already offered Chris Bosh a max deal, but Bosh was hesitant to commit because he wanted to stay with LeBron and the Miami Heat. Now that LeBron is going home to the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Rockets and Bosh will move quickly to get a deal done. In order to do so, Houston had to trade away Jeremy Lin.
As first reported by ESPN’s Marc Stein, the Houston Rockets were trying to trade Lin and his $14 million expiring contract to the Los Angeles Lakers in order to make room for Bosh. The Lakers can take on Lin’s contract without it cutting into their cap space for 2015, and ESPN’s Jeff Goodman reported the Rockets have officially traded Lin and a future first-round pick for cash.
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports that the deal includes a 2015 first rounder and other future draft considerations while the Rockets will receive cash and the rights to an overseas player.
The Philadelphia 76ers were also reported to have been interested in trading for Linsanity.
If Jeremy Lin is the Lakers' big catch this offseason Kobe will be like pic.twitter.com/xpPULpRmvr
— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) July 11, 2014
The Rockets also need to officially pull off their trade of Omer Asik to the New Orleans Pelicans in order to free up the required cap room to sign Bosh to something close to max deal and match the Dallas Mavericks’ offer sheet for Chandler Parsons. The Rockets had three days from the time Parsons signed Dallas’ three-year, $46 million max offer to sign Bosh in order to be able to match.
Last season with the Rockets, Lin averaged 12.5 points and 4.1 assists per game in 33 starts. Lin only played 29 minutes per game and was replaced by Patrick Beverley in the starting lineup, struggling to contribute at times off the bench. However, the Lakers needed a point guard given they’re looking to unload the hobbled Steve Nash and they should enjoy pairing Linsanity with Kobe Bryant and Julius Randle to rebuild for the future.
The Lakers were also reportedly been interested in restricted free agent Isaiah Thomas. Lin isn’t be the sexiest offseason addition, but he’s proven he’s a capable starting point guard when given the minutes and he’s become a global icon who will explode in a major market like Los Angeles.