Rockets sign Darius Days, Trhae Mitchell; waive Moe Harkless, Theo Maledon

With the 2022-23 regular-season roster deadline approaching, the Houston Rockets waived Moe Harkless and Theo Maledon on Tuesday while adding Darius Days and Trhae Mitchell to the roster.

Harkless and Maledon were acquired primarily for salary reasons in the recent trade with Oklahoma City that brought in Derrick Favors and a future second-round draft asset.

Mitchell, who played with the Rockets in the NBA’s 2022 summer league, appears to have been signed in order for Houston to secure his G League rights. That would allow the Rockets to place him with their affiliate club, the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) Vipers.

Meanwhile, Days was claimed off waivers from Miami. Here’s how the Rockets described both players in their announcement:

Days (6-7, 240) was eligible for the 2022 NBA draft following his senior season at LSU, during which he was teammates with Rockets forward Tari Eason. He was one of two Division I players to have averaged at least 13.0 points, 7.0 rebounds, 1.50 steals and 2.0 3-pointers made in 2021-22. Days averaged 13.7 ppg and 10.0 rpg while shooting 55.6% from the floor and 37.5% on 3-pointers for San Antonio at the NBA summer league in Las Vegas.

Mitchell (6-6, 195) was eligible for the 2020 NBA draft following his senior season at South Alabama. He spent the past two seasons with the Rockets G League affiliate, Rio Grande Valley, and played for Houston at the 2022 NBA summer league. From 2018-19 through 2019-20, Mitchell was the only Division I player to have recorded at least 800 points, 400 rebounds, 160 assists, 70 steals, and 100 blocks.

With the NBA’s 2022-23 regular season starting next Tuesday, Oct. 18, teams will need to trim their rosters from the offseason and training camp limit of up to 20 players to the regular-season level of 15 players on standard contracts plus two players on two-way deals.

Players who are let go as part of this process are eligible to be claimed off waivers by other teams around the league, if another team is willing to open up a roster spot for them. If not, each player’s training camp team secures their G League affiliate rights to start the season.

Thus, expect the Rockets to cycle through various players over the coming days — including recently signed big man Willie Cauley-Stein — with an eye on maximizing RGV’s 2022-23 roster.