The Houston Rockets, Sacramento Kings and Cleveland Cavaliers were working on a trade Wednesday night that most notably would move veteran Iman Shumpert from the Kings to the Rockets. That deal has been made official as of Thursday afternoon.
The Kings receive guard Alec Burks from the Cavs, while the Cavs acquire Houston’s Brandon Knight and Marquese Chriss along with a 2019 first-round draft pick and a 2022 second-round pick from Houston.
Cleveland is sending guards Nik Stauskas and Wade Baldwin IV as well as a 2021 second- round draft pick (via Milwaukee) to Houston. The Rockets will also send their own 2020 second-round pick to the Kings as part of the deal. Burks has now been traded for the second time this season, after starting the year with the Utah Jazz.
Thursday afternoon, multiple outlets reported the Rockets will trade Stauskas and Baldwin IV to the Indiana Pacers for a second-round pick. The duo is expected to be waived, but will have been a part of four different teams (Trail Blazers, Cavs, Rockets, Pacers) since Feb. 4.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski first reported the trade. The deal was apparently built off the foundation of a previously reported Knight/first-round-pick-for-Burks discussion.
Burks is averaging 11.6 points (37.8 3-point percentage) and 5.5 rebounds for Cleveland. Shumpert, known for his defensive prowess, has been hitting a near-career-best 36.6 percent of his career-high 4.8 3-point attempts per game. Stauskas has averaged 6.1 ppg in 15.3 mpg this season for Portland, not having played for the Cavaliers since Sunday’s trade.
After Wednesday’s 127-101 win against the Kings, Rockets guard James Harden expressed his excitement about the deal.
“Shump is a vet who can help us defensively, ball-handling, shooting,” Harden said. “He’s been playing very well this season. Once he gets here and gets a couple of practices in, let’s go.”
On Wednesday night, Shumpert posted a thank you message to Kings fans on Twitter that read: “Sacramento…I really can’t thank you enough for accepting me in full ever since I got off the plane when I was traded here. For the open arms, loving energy and stories we now share together as the #scores. THANK YOU.”
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
