
Mirjam Swanson: Mark Daigneault on late-night COVID tes…
February 28, 2021 | 7:46 pm EST Update
Nevertheless, Oladipo, 28, has the chance to become one of the best two-way players available at the trade deadline or free agency. Miami and New York are among teams who’ve had an interest in Oladipo, and both have the salary-cap space to sign him outright in the summer.
Oladipo’s in the final year of a four-year, $85 million contract, which leaves the Rockets with decisions to make prior to the March 25 trade deadline — including whether they’ll make him available in trade talks. The transitional state of the Rockets’ roster makes it likely they’ll listen to overtures as they continue to get to know Oladipo — and he gets to know them — since the mid-January trade that brought him from Indiana as part of the James Harden blockbuster.
For the Rockets, amid a post-Harden and Westbrook era, there are a number of options with Oladipo, including weighing his value in the trade deadline marketplace, committing to aggressively pursuing a long-term deal in the summer, working with Oladipo on getting value back in sign-and-trade talks in the offseason or letting him walk to use the cap space on other players in free agency.