The Houston Rockets have reached separate agreements on trades that will send Patrick Patterson, Cole Aldrich and Toney Douglas to Sacramento and Marcus Morris to Phoenix, a source said Wednesday.
The Rockets will receive Thomas Robinson, the No. 5 pick in last year’s draft, Francisco Garcia and Tyler Honeycutt from the Kings, according to the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal had not been announced and was still pending league approval.
In the other deal, the source said the Rockets will receive a future second-round pick from the Suns in exchange for Morris, who will join his twin brother, Markieff Morris, on the Phoenix roster.
Patterson, Aldrich and Douglas walked out of the Toyota Center just as Houston was starting its game against Oklahoma City, on the eve of the trading deadline. The Rockets came into the game holding the No. 8 spot in the Western Conference, and the moves were unexpected.
The 6-foot-9 Patterson had started 38 games for Houston this season and was the Rockets’ fourth-leading scorer, averaging 11.6 points. Douglas was acquired in the offseason in a trade with New York and he played in 49 games backing up Jeremy Lin. The 6-11 Aldrich, acquired in the James Harden trade with Oklahoma City just before the season, averaged 1.7 points in 30 games for Houston this season.
Sacramento had high hopes for the 6-10 Robinson, but he’s disappointed so far, averaging only 4.8 points and 4.7 rebounds in 16 minutes per game.
Kings General Manager Geoff Petrie had hinted that he’d only make minor moves before the trade deadline because of the pending purchase agreement that could move the franchise to Seattle next season.
Marcus Morris had played in all but one of Houston’s games this season, making 17 starts. He was averaging 8.6 points and 4.1 rebounds per game.
Hickson apologizes
Portland forward J.J. Hickson apologized for his Valentine’s Day tweets about when to cut off contact with a woman.
The Trail Blazers’ big man took to the social media site last week to post a series of tweets with the hashtag (hash)girlbye that he meant to be funny one-liners. But some of the stream drew criticism for being demeaning toward women. He also included a shout-out to strippers. Hickson apologized to those he offended, but insisted the whole thing was a joke. A spokesman for the Blazers said that Hickson’s tweets were treated as an internal matter that has been addressed.
