The Houston Rockets lost a young big man from their roster today, when N’Faly Dante signed a two-year, $4.5 million offer sheet with the Atlanta Hawks as a restricted free agent for the Houston Rockets. Houston then declined to match, as doing so would put the Rockets over the first apron hard cap. The team would have to shed salary somewhere in order to match the offer, and that’s just not in the cards right now for a Rockets squad chasing a title and already loaded on big men.
N’Faly Dante signs with Hawks, Rockets decline to match
Dante should get more opportunity in Atlanta.
The Rockets also could have opted to make Dante one of their two-way players earlier this summer, but they did a total reset of that crew this offseason, instead signing Kevon Harris, Isaiah Crawford, and JD Davison.
Dante did appear to have some potential, averaging 16.5 points, 10.6 rebounds, and 2.2 blocks per game on 75 percent shooting from the field in 31 games with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers last season, averaging 29.1 minutes per contest. Last year, with the Rockets, he played in 4 games, averaging 6 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks per game on 76.9 percent shooting from the field. He had 10 points, 9 boards, and 2 blocks in a March 3 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
But with Houston returning Alperen Sengun and Steven Adams while also adding veteran and former Rocket Clint Capela into the mix, there was virtually no path to minutes in H-town for Dante barring a catastrophic injury situation in Houston’s front court. This was an easy call to make on both sides. Dante for the new opportunity, and the Rockets because he wasn’t worth being hard capped for.
Good luck, N’Faly. I liked your game.
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