Rockets acquire KJ McDaniels, Pablo Prigioni in deadline trades

Daryl Morey’s deadline day streak is still alive.

The Houston Rockets sent out multiple second-round picks today, acquiring small forward KJ McDaniels from the Philadelphia Sixers for Isaiah Canaan and Denver’s 2015 second round pick, then sent Alexey Shved and second round picks in 2017 and 2019 to the New York Knicks for point guard Pablo Prigioni.

The deals were first reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.

McDaniels is a surprise. The 6-foot-7 rookie wing, who just turned 22, is a high flyer with good defensive potential. He is averaging 9.2 points on just 39.9% shooting, 3.8 rebounds and 1.3 blocks in 25.4 minutes a night. He also is rare in that he was a second round pick that took a one-year deal, making him a restricted free agent this summer.

Prigioni is an older player at 37, but he’s a career 41.4% three-point shooter in the NBA and keeps the turnovers down. It could be a sneaky addition here.

The Rockets missed out on a potential major boost to their needs when Goran Dragic was traded to the Miami Heat, one of the teams that he apparently was willing to re-sign with. The Rockets were stung by Dragic’s unwillingness to re-sign with Houston, and Houston’s offers had to reflect that. Surprisingly, several other bigger name point guards — Isaiah Thomas, Michael Carter-Williams, Brandon Knight and Reggie Jackson — were also traded and the Rockets were not involved in any of those moves.

On the bright side, the Rockets hold on to their best two draft pick assets — the 2015 first round pick of the Pelicans, which would currently be a late lottery selection, and the 2015 second round pick of the Knicks, which would currently be the top pick of the second round.

KJ McDaniels Highlights

Pablo Prigioni Highlights