Rockets Acquire Dillon Brooks as Part of Five-Team Trade

HOUSTON – The Houston Rockets today announced they have acquired guard/forward Dillon Brooks via a sign-and-trade with Memphis which also involved Atlanta, the L.A. Clippers and Oklahoma City .  As part of the deal, the Rockets acquired the rights to forward/center Alpha Kaba (Kah-ba) from the Hawks and two future second round picks from Los Angeles.

Brooks (6-7, 225) was the 45th overall pick by Houston in the 2017 NBA Draft before his rights were acquired by Memphis.  In six seasons with the Grizzlies, Brooks appeared in 345 games with 318 starts while averaging 14.5 points, 3.1 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 0.94 steals in 28.7 minutes per game.

Last season, Brooks was voted NBA All-Defensive Second Team.  According to NBA.com/stats, of players who averaged at least 30.0 minutes played with 30-plus games played, he ranked tied for fourth in defensive rating (108.5).  Brooks ranked sixth in defensive field goal percentage (.446) among players with 30-plus games played who defended an average of at least 12.0 shots per game.

Over the past four seasons, Brooks was one of five players with 150-plus games played to have averaged at least 16.0 ppg in fewer than 30.0 mpg.  He also averaged 1.9 3-pointers made over that span.

Brooks, who was born in Canada, attended the University of Oregon.  He was a two-time All-Pac-12 First Team member and was conference player of the year in his final season as a junior in 2016-17. 

Kaba (6-10, 242) was the 60th overall pick by Atlanta in the 2017 NBA Draft.  The French-Guinean player was named MVP of the Turkish league in 2021-22, one season after Rockets center Alperen Sengun received the award.  Kaba, who has a 7’5” wingspan, spent last season with Budućnost VOLI in Montenegro.

Below are Houston’s outgoing components from the five-team deal:

-    Traded guard Josh Christopher to Memphis.

-    Traded forward/center Usman Garuba, guard TyTy Washington Jr. and two future second round picks to Atlanta.

-    Traded forward KJ Martin to the L.A. Clippers.

-    Traded guard Patty Mills and three future second round picks to Oklahoma City.