Aaron Brooks Likely To Sign With Rockets

5:37pm: Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle adds, via Twitter, that Brooks and the Rockets were "pretty far apart" when negotiating over the summer. Still, Feigen expects them to get a deal done this time around, since Brooks "wants it to work" and the Rockets came up short in their pursuit of a veteran point guard at the trade deadline (Twitter link). Brooks has some money left over from his Kings deal, even though we've yet to hear how much he received in the buyout. Brooks must clear waivers before any signing can become official, so another team could nab him if its willing to take on the full value of his Kings contract.

5:27pm: Brooks is likely to sign with the Rockets, Wojnarowski tweets.

5:21pm: Point guard Aaron Brooks is in talks with the Rockets about a contract following his buyout from the Kings today, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). HoopsWorld's Alex Kennedy speculated earlier this afternoon that Houston could get in the mix for the 28-year-old, since they pursued him over the summer. Kennedy also heard that Brooks plans to take his time before signing, so the discussions with the Rockets might not be that far along.

The Rockets drafted Brooks 26th overall in 2007, trading him to the Suns in 2011 for Goran Dragic and a first-round pick. Brooks enjoyed a career year with Houston in 2009/10, averaging 19.6 points and 5.3 rebounds per game while draining 39.8% of his three-point attempts. He also started all 82 games for the Rockets that season, but Brooks has never started more than 35 games in any other year.

If Brooks signs with the Rockets, the team would have to waive somebody to make room. Still, he makes sense for the team, which has been going with rookie Patrick Beverley as the backup to Jeremy Lin at point guard following the trade that sent Toney Douglas to the Kings. With Brooks seemingly headed to Houston, it seems a little odd, in retrospect, that Brooks wasn't a part of that deal, but now the Rockets will likely get him at a discount, rather than absorb the two-year, $6.646MM contract he signed last summer with Sacramento.

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