The Houston Rockets are desperate to trade Tracy McGrady before the Feb. 18 NBA trade deadline, and the New York Knicks have emerged as the 30-year-old swingman’s latest suitor.
According to Yahoo Sports, the Rockets are attempting to coordinate a complicated three-way deal that would send McGrady to New York, Al Harrington to the Wizards and Caron Butler to the Rockets. The Wizards would likely be in line to acquire another player or a draft pick as well.
McGrady has not been on the floor for the Rockets since Dec. 23, and he averaged just 3.2 points and 0.8 rebounds in 7:35 per game the six times that coach Rick Adelman played him this season. Now completely outcast from the organization, McGrady is nothing more than a $23 million contract on the books for Houston general manager Daryl Morey, who has been shopping him around recently.
The Knicks are unlikely to reap huge benefits on the court by acquiring McGrady, but his expiring deal would enable them to remain financially flexible in anticipation of this summer’s free-agent bonanza, which includes LeBron James. The 29-year-old Harrington is averaging 17.8 points and 5.6 rebounds in just over 30 minutes per game for coach Mike D'Antoni, and should adequately replace Butler on the 17-33 Wizards, who are far out of contention in the Eastern Conference.
The Wizards would benefit from exporting the 29-year-old Butler — whose five-year contract expires in 2011 – if they can gain another player in the deal and possibly a draft pick, in addition to Harrington, to continue their rebuilding process. Butler is averaging 16.9 points and 6.7 rebounds in nearly 40 minutes per game. He is the best player involved in the proposed trade, so the Rockets probably could be convinced to sweeten the Wizards’ end of the swap in order to also rid themselves of McGrady.
Yahoo Sports notes that although there would need to be significantly more pieces in the deal than just the three aforementioned forwards, "there is a framework to the discussions," and talks seem to be progressing.
