Daniel Theis was a solid reserve big man for the Boston Celtics for the first three-and-a-half years of his career. He never put up splashy numbers — 7.2 points and 4.9 rebounds a game — but he was efficient, shooting 55.4%. He was a respectable NBA rotation big man.
Houston signed him to be that this season but it hasn’t worked out. Theis has struggled and the Rockets want to focus on their younger bigs, such as Christian Wood. At the same time, Theis’ old team in Boston had signed Dennis Schroder but were looking to trade point guard.
So the two sides struck a deal, as reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
Houston is trading Daniel Theis to the Celtics, sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 10, 2022
The trade is Schroder, Bruno Fernando and Enes Freedom Kanter to the Rockets for Theis. Houston had to waive D.J. Augustin and Armoni Brooks to clear the roster spots for the trade to happen. The Rockets then turned around and waived Kanter, who was not part of their plans. Kanter and Fernando were in the trade to help Boston shed a little more salary in its push to be under the tax line.
For the Rockets, this trade was mainly about getting off the multiple years of money owed Theis, and both Schroder and Fernando are expiring contracts.
For the rest of this season, Houston gets a nice rotation NBA point guard who averaged 14 points and 4.2 assists a game for the Celtics, and shoots 34.9% from 3. Schroder will play behind the developing Kevin Porter Jr. but gives the Rockets’ bench a boost.