Veteran guard DJ Augustin is viewed around the NBA as a likely candidate to become a free agent in the coming weeks after having his contract bought out by the Houston Rockets, per Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report.
The steady rise of rookie guard Josh Christopher ultimately bumped Augustin from Houston’s rotation, and entering Tuesday, the 5-foot-11 floor general had only played in one game out of the team’s prior nine.
At 34 years old, Augustin clearly doesn’t fit with the rebuilding timeline of the Rockets, and he’s effectively in the final year of his contract — with only $333,333 guaranteed for the 2022-23 season.
Assuming the Rockets are unable to trade Augustin by Thursday’s deadline for in-season deals, there’s not much incentive to keep him around longer, considering that he is likely to become a free agent in the 2022 offseason, anyway. Moreover, his vacated roster spot could then be used to potentially evaluate a younger player from the NBA G League who might be in better alignment with Houston’s organizational timeline.
From the other perspective, with Augustin no longer playing for Houston and poised to become a free agent, there doesn’t seem to be much of a reason for any team to trade value for him — since they could simply wait a few days and sign him, instead. Thus, a buyout seems inevitable. However, it makes sense for Rockets general manager Rafael Stone to wait until after the Feb. 10 trade deadline, just in case Augustin’s $7-million cap figure is needed to help match salaries in a larger transaction.
In portions of two seasons in Houston, Augustin has averaged 7.3 points and 2.8 assists in 17.1 minutes, and he’s shooting 39.7% on 3-pointers.
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