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The Houston Rockets were always lurking as a dark horse to land free-agent-to-be Chris Paul and pair him with James Harden, but lacked the cap space to do it. Turns out, that wasn’t a problem.
The Rockets traded for Paul two days before free agency began, using a series of complex transactions to engineer a scenario where Paul opted in to the final year of his deal and they sent enough matching salary back to the Clippers to make it worth their while. Lou Williams, Patrick Beverley, Sam Dekker, and a 2018 first-round pick are the main pieces the Clippers will get back, but there are more players in the deal to make the money work.
Read on for all the latest updates.