The deal
76ers get: James Ennis
Rockets get: swap rights on a second-round pick
Get more trade grades for every deal here
Houston Rockets: C
During the preseason, when Ennis hit 56 percent of his 3-pointers, the narrative from the Rockets organization was that he would be more effective than ever before in Mike D'Antoni's system, helping fill the void left by the departures of Trevor Ariza and Luc Mbah a Moute.
Indeed, Ennis did shoot somewhat better than his career norms in Houston, making 67 percent of his limited 2-point attempts and 37 percent of his 3s, yet his inability to stay healthy and defensive limitations prevented him from solidifying a key role for the Rockets. Having added Iman Shumpert to their wing rotation on Wednesday, they apparently felt comfortable jettisoning Ennis for salary relief.
Officially, Houston is still about $2.4 million above the luxury-tax line. As ESPN's Bobby Marks has noted, that includes $1.5 million in bonuses for Clint Capela -- $1 million if he plays 2,000 minutes and the Rockets reach the conference finals, and $500,000 if his defensive rebound percentage exceeds 30 percent. Depending on when Capela returns from thumb surgery, he may fall short of the necessary minutes and Houston is no lock to get to the conference finals. Capela's also a long shot to get the rebound percentage bonus. So moving one of the two players acquired in yesterday's trade (Wade Baldwin and Nik Stauskas) may allow Houston to avoid the tax altogether.
The Rockets also get out of the $1.8 million player option for 2019-20 they had to give Ennis to get him to sign on at the veteran's minimum. It's unclear whether Ennis will pick that up, but it pays him slightly more than the minimum for a player signed to a one-year contract this summer.
Philadelphia 76ers: B
For the Sixers, Ennis provides wing depth and insurance against needing to add a player in the buyout market. Philadelphia will surely pursue buyout candidates including Wayne Ellington and Wesley Matthews, but Ennis is a low-cost Plan B who still might get minutes anyway given how thin the 76ers are on the perimeter after giving up both Wilson Chandler and Landry Shamet in the Tobias Harris trade.
He's an upgrade over Corey Brewer, who actually started three games while playing for Philadelphia on a pair of 10-day contracts, but is too ineffective a shooter to be considered an option in the postseason.
Philadelphia also will need to waive a player now, presumably the recently acquired Malachi Richardson.