Ryan Anderson’s contract is a burden on the Houston Rockets, so let’s take a look at some ways they can move him off the roster and the payroll.
In the summer of 2016, power forward Ryan Anderson agreed to a four-year, $80 million deal with the Houston Rockets that is meant to keep him in Houston until after the 2019-20 season. He was coming off one of the best seasons of his career with the New Orleans Pelicans where he averaged 17.0 points and 6.0 rebounds per game on 36.6 percent shooting from 3-point range.
It seemed like a perfect fit in Mike D’Antoni‘s offense. Anderson can stretch the floor with his shooting ability and be hidden on defense, but the 6’10” forward has failed to live up to the expectations that this expensive contract brought.
In his first season in Houston, Anderson played roughly the same amount of minutes he did in New Orleans, but averaged 13.6 points per game. He did show his ability to be an efficient shooter, shooting 40.3 percent from beyond the arc. He followed up his first season in Houston with an even more disappointing year, averaging 9.3 points per game and seeing a major dip in playing time.
Towards the end of March and into the playoffs, Anderson clearly fell out of favor with Mike D’Antoni because of his inability to defend the elite forwards in the game. He appeared in just five of the seven games in the Western Conference Finals and never played more than eight minutes in any of those games.
Now the Rockets are stuck with an expensive contract for a player who will likely not contribute this season. With the addition of Carmelo Anthony, Anderson will find it even harder to see the floor, which is why the Rockets could look to trade him before the season starts.
Let’s take a look at some other NBA teams who could be willing to accept Anderson’s contract on their payroll for the right price — just another great excuse to play around with ESPN’s NBA Trade Machine to ensure all of these deals work out financially.