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The Brooklyn Nets have acquired swingman K.J. McDaniels from the Houston Rockets, according to The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The move puts the Rockets about $3 million under the salary cap, which means they can make an offer to center Andrew Bogut once the Philadelphia 76ers waive him and he clears waivers. There will be competition for Bogut, and ESPN’s Marc Stein reported Houston is interested.  

Houston’s motivation is obvious. The team is focused on winning now, and if it determined that McDaniels was not going to crack the rotation anytime soon, then it would prefer to try to find another veteran who will. With Trevor Ariza and Sam Dekker in front of him, McDaniels did not have much of a future there.

From Brooklyn’s perspective, this is a classic low-risk, high-reward move. For a rebuilding team, acquiring someone with McDaniels’ tools is a no-brainer. He never quite found his place with the Rockets, but in his rookie season with the Sixers, he displayed elite athleticism on the wing, plus shot-blocking. If he can become a consistent shooter for the Nets, then this could be a steal.