Will Trade Acquisitions Theo Maledon, Derrick Favors Stay With Rockets?

The Houston Rockets are jumbling their roster, making an eight-player trade that brings four new players to the team.

Among those players include two players who will likely be waived, Moe Harkless and Ty Jerome, and two others whose status is unknown, Derrick Favors and Theo Maledon.

Both Favors and Maledon provide different strengths to the roster, even if they are minor.

Favors, 31, has played in the most NBA games out of any player on the roster, including Eric Gordon. If the team opts to keep him, he can be a veteran voice in a locker room filled with 14 players drafted after the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Favors is also set to make just over $10 million this season, making him the second-highest player on the roster behind Gordon. This means that he can be salary cap filler for a trade the team makes towards the Trade Deadline in February.

Maledon, 21, has been dealing with a shoulder injury this offseason, but when healthy, he can add to the mix of the team's potential backup point guards. Maledon was the 34th overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft and started 49 games in his rookie season, but when the Thunder brought in Josh Giddey, it pushed him into a bench role. 

The only problem with Maledon staying on the roster is his limited playing time. Daishen Nix and TyTy Washington are already fighting for minutes as the backup point guard, and Maledon isn't definitively better than either of them. Maledon's impact can be felt, but it's less likely given his circumstances.

There's a chance that the Rockets move on from both of these new acquisitions before the season starts, but both of them provide something intriguing and it is worth noting.

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