Brooklyn Nets rumors: Kenneth Faried headed to Houston after buyout

According to a report, Kenneth Faried has been bought out by the Brooklyn Nets in order to sign with the Houston Rockets to fill in for injured Clint Capela.

After being bullied on the boards by the Brooklyn Nets in an overtime loss Wednesday night, it appears the Houston Rockets are going to address the issue by adding someone from the Nets.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, veteran Kenneth Faried has agreed to a buyout in order to sign with the Rockets.

Faried, acquired last July along with Darrell Arthur, a protected 2019 first-round pick and a 2020 second-round selection from the Denver Nuggets in exchange for Isaiah Whitehead, was in the final year of a four-year, $50 million rookie-scale extension he had signed with the Nuggets in 2014.

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The Nuggets were looking to dump the salaries of Faried and Arthur, who was dealt a week later to the Phoenix Suns in exchange for Jared Dudley and a protected 2021 second-round pick, and threw in a top-12 protected first-rounder to facilitate the Nets taking on those contracts.

Faried was a healthy scratch for Denver’s final 32 games last season, as the team’s embrace of a pace-and-space system made the veteran and former USA Basketball selection a poor fit.

Selected 22nd overall by the Nuggets in 2011 from Morehead State, the Newark, N.J., native had been considered a cornerstone piece by the franchise when he signed his extension in 2014, just after starting for USA Basketball’s gold-medal winning entry at the FIBA World Cup that summer.

Faried faces a similar problem in Brooklyn, one that was exacerbated by him missing training camp and most of the preseason following offseason ankle surgery.

He played mostly at the 5 when he did play for the Nets and appeared in just 12 of Brooklyn’s first 47 games, missing one due to illness on Oct. 26.

According to Wojnarowski’s report, Faried will be waived Saturday by the Nets and signed by the Rockets once he clears waivers on Monday. Houston plans to put him directly into the starting lineup when they play the Philadelphia 76ers Monday night.

The Rockets will have to clear a roster spot prior to signing Faried, who will fill in for injured Clint Capela, who is expected to be out four to six weeks after having surgery earlier this week to repair a torn ligament in his right thumb.

According to Wojnarowski, Houston general manager Daryl Morey is aggressively trying to find a trade for veteran Carmelo Anthony to free the roster space to add Faried. Anthony has not been with the team since early November.

Anthony joined the Rockets in August on a one-year veteran’s minimum deal after being bought out by the Atlanta Hawks in late July.

Houston was outrebounded 57-47 by the Nets on Wednesday and surrendered a career-high 24 rebounds to Jarrett Allen in its overtime loss to Brooklyn, starting 6-foot-8 Gary Clark at center.

Faried is expected to share time with 36-year-old veteran Nene Hilario, whom the Rockets prefer to limit to 15 minutes or less per game and does not play both ends of back-to-back sets. Nene and Faried were teammates for part of Faried’s rookie season in Denver in 2011-12.

Faried can still rebound. In the two appearances in which he received significant playing time for Brooklyn, the Manimal recorded double-doubles in each.

In his 12 games for the Nets, Faried averaged 5.1 points and 3.7 rebounds in 9.8 minutes per game, shooting 59.5 percent overall while making 1-of-5 from 3-point range and going 10-for-16 at the foul line.

He has averaged 11.3 points and 8.1 boards over his eight NBA seasons.

Brooklyn will open a roster spot, but are nearly $14.1 million over the salary cap, per Jeff Siegel of Early Bird Rights. Faried has roughly $5.87 million of his $13.76 million salary for this season still due and it is unknown how much of that figure, if any, Faried will give up in the buyout agreement.

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So if the Nets add another player, it will have to be for the minimum salary.

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