Chris Haynes: Rockets have edge in Kyle Kuzma’s free agency market, may seek Kyrie Irving meeting

There is growing momentum that the Houston Rockets will have the edge in signing unrestricted free agent forward Kyle Kuzma, according to Thursday’s story from Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report.

A 27-year-old, 6-foot-9 forward, Kuzma averaged 21.2 points (44.8% FG, 33.3% on 3-pointers), 7.2 rebounds, and 3.7 assists while playing with the Washington Wizards last season.

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It’s a curious report, since Kuzma hasn’t been linked as a target of the Rockets by any local reporting (such as Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle). As it stands, the Rockets are fairly well stocked at the forward spots between Jabari Smith Jr., Tari Eason, KJ Martin, Jae’Sean Tate, and newly drafted rookie Cam Whitmore.

Furthermore, even though the Rockets have an NBA-leading figure of more than $60 million in space beneath the 2023-24 salary cap, other reports have tied them to aggressive pursuits of Toronto’s Fred VanVleet and Memphis’ Dillon Brooks. Barring an extreme discount, there wouldn’t seem to be financial room, as things stand, to add a third free-agent veteran at potentially a starter’s level.

Then again, the Rockets could create more room by trading a mid-salaried player such as Tate or Kevin Porter Jr. in the backcourt. If the Rockets were to sign VanVleet and Brooks to add to developing young talents such as Jalen Green and Amen Thompson, Porter might be in a bit of a logjam as it pertains to minutes next season. In the frontcourt, Tate already appears to be in a logjam.

Free agency agreements can officially be reached starting at 5:00 p.m. Central on Friday. Haynes reports in the same article that the Rockets may seek a meeting with Kyrie Irving, though evidence would seem to suggest that VanVleet is a higher lead-guard priority.

Finally, it’s worth noting that many agents around the NBA might attempt to leverage the threat of Houston signing their client (given all the cap space) as a means of extracting more money elsewhere. Thus, with all of these reports, it’s hard to conclude which is genuine intelligence and which could be something of a leverage play.

Stay tuned!