Another Rockets veteran has reported to the NBA’s campus, according to Kelly Iko of The Athletic (Twitter link), who hears from a source that forward Luc Mbah a Moute arrived in Orlando on Wednesday.
James Harden, Russell Westbrook, and Mbah a Moute didn’t initially travel with the Rockets to Orlando, but Harden and Westbrook have since arrived and started practicing with the club. Mbah a Moute will have to go through a brief quarantine period and return a pair of negative COVID-19 tests, but after that, Houston should be at relatively full strength.
Here’s more from around the Southwest:
- Mavericks guard Trey Burke – signed earlier this month as a substitute player for Willie Cauley-Stein – was scheduled to arrive in Orlando and begin his quarantine period on Wednesday, per head coach Rick Carlisle (Twitter link via Tim MacMahon of ESPN). Burke will help provide depth in a Dallas backcourt that’s missing Jalen Brunson and Courtney Lee.
- Tim Cato and John Hollinger of The Athletic explore the Mavericks‘ future, suggesting that a best-case scenario could conceivably see the club playing in the NBA Finals a couple years from now.
- Noting that the club didn’t provide many details on the hip injury that brought Justise Winslow‘s season to an end and further delayed his Grizzlies debut, Chris Herrington of The Memphian attempts to make sense of what the injury means for the team this season and in 2020/21.
Even if Mbah a Moute can contribute as the 9th/10th player in the rotation for a handful of minutes per game, and provide the type of defense he did two seasons ago, it would be a huge boost to their second team.