The NBA is entering its last days before opening free agency (July 1) and making official all those movements that have been known these weeks. And also to start new ones, transfers and signings, which are leading the 30 franchises in the League to negotiate or ask about the situation of different players and to assess the price of some of their assets.
In this last scenario is Usman Garuba. According to Yahoo! SportsHouston Rockets has probed the market to find out the price of the Spanish international, KJ Martin and Josh Christopher. That is to say, the Texan franchise has put the ‘for sale’ sign on the 21-year-old power forward and 203 centimeters.
Garuba celebrated his second year in the NBA and in Houston this season, and his sporting situation improved somewhat… but not too much. He played more, from 24 games in his rookie year to 75 in the sophomore (second year), but statistically their figures remained similar: from 2 to 3 points; from 3.5 to 4.1 rebounds; and from 0.7 to 0.9 assists.
The Rockets extended his contract for another year for $2.5 million on November 30, 2022.. And they could extend it another extra on November 30, 2023 for 4.3 million. In 2025, Garuba has a qualified offer for 6.3 million.
The Texan franchise is in full reconstruction, one that is taking on eternal overtones with a lot of young players: Kevin Porter Jr, Jalen Green, Amen Thompson (number 4 in the last draft), Jabari Smith, Alperen Sengun… But with few veterans wanting to getting into a rather dysfunctional team without a clear reference.
One of the Rockets’ coveted wishes is to get James Harden back. The point guard (33 years old and 1.96 m) left Houston at the beginning of the 2020-21 season towards the Brooklyn Nets to end up a year later at the Philadelphia 76ers. Neither in one nor in the other did he win the championship and throughout last season there has been speculation about a possible return to Texas. La Barba has exercised the player option for 35.6 million dollars that extends his contract for another year with the Sixers, but it seems that the motivation has been to secure the money to, immediately after, request the transfer.
