Jason Terry wanted to get out of Sacramento immediately to take his chances in Houston.
The Houston Rockets recently finalized a deal to acquire 15-year veteran and former NBA Sixth Man of the Year, Jason Terry, from the Sacramento Kings. In exchange for the 36-year-old, the Rockets will send different non-guaranteed contracts, most likely involving Scotty Hopson, Josh Powell, as well as Alonzo Gee. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports posted on Twitter, "Sacramento will send Houston two second-round picks in the deal, including one via the Knicks, league sources told Yahoo."
Sacramento is merely looking for ways to minimize their overhead and free up some space for new talent. Terry described the Kings' plans as a form of "building" instead of "rebuilding". He said, "I wouldn't say it's rebuilding, but a building process". He added, "They're in transition right now. For me, at this point in my career, I want championships."
In an article by Bleacher Report, Terry only played during the first half of the 2013-2014 NBA season or a total of 35 games due to knee injury. Experts speculate that the Rockets needed someone to create plays from the backcourt after losing Jeremy Lin to the Los Angeles Lakers. Terry will most likely be sharing the role with point guard Isaiah Canaan, Troy Daniels, and Nick Johnson. In the past season, Terry averaged 4.5 points, 1.1 rebounds and 1.6 assists while playing an average of 16.3 minutes per game with the Brooklyn Nets before being traded to the Kings.
If the Rockets are trying to replace Jeremy Lin, Terry is not the answer. Although there was no sight of Linsanity during his tenure with the Rockets, the 26-year-old averaged 12.5 points and 4.1 assists while playing 28.9 minutes per game. During the 2012-2013 season, Lin started in all 82 games and averaged 13.4 points and 6.1 assists. According to experts, the Rockets were in a better situation with Lin and Chandler Parsons available.
Although Terry is far from his prime when he last won a championship with the Dallas Mavericks in 2011, averaging 15.4 points and 4.4 assists per game, he can still be a good backup especially from the three-point mark, alongside stars James Harden and Dwight Howard.
In a blog post on Chron.com, Terry is in the last season of his contract and expected to earn $5.85 million. The deal between the Rockets and Kings will take several weeks to close.