Could Sura's Contract Make the Rockets a Third Team in a Kobe Trade?

The recent news of the Lakers and Bulls renewing daily conversations of a Kobe trade got me thinking about how that trade could possibly benefit the Rockets. The timing of discussions also makes sense, because making a trade before the final rosters are set opens more options of trading players before they get cut.

The Rockets have a unique asset in Bob Sura's contract. His deal counts as $3.8M in salary in any trade, yet he is only guaranteed $1M (which may be covered by insurance?).

The Bulls are going to have a hard time putting together SALARIES in order to get to the ~$19M level of Kobe's salary. Guys like Gordon, Deng, Thomas and Noah each make only around $3-4M. In order to put a $19M package together, the Bulls would otherwise need to add more players that the Lakers just don't want. If the Rockets come in as the third team, they could include Sura's deal in the Bulls package for Kobe. In exchange, the Bulls could give the Rockets an asset. If the Bulls end up not having to give up Deng, and if Sura's contract is necessary to get a deal done that the Lakers are happy with, would it be out of the question to get Thabo Sefalosha? He's the guy the Rockets were set to take last year at #8 (over Rudy Gay) had the Battier trade not happened.

Of course, this is all somewhat far-fetched. However, the fact does not change that the Rockets are uniquely positioned as a possible third team in a Kobe-to-Chicago trade.

 

If you read Feigen's entire reponse (as in, the next sentence), he says that the Rockets really do not want to lose Sura's contract as a valuable trade asset and that (until Monday) the possibility of using Sura's deal in a trade remains a possibility.

Everyone, I know that this thread was created so close to the deadline for making a decision on Sura. However, most trades in the NBA are made at the 11th hour. You just KNOW that Morey is burning up the phone lines right now exploring every possible trade.

 

One more thing. If Morey gets enough feedback from other GMs (i.e., John Paxson and Mitch Kupchack) that they are interested in Sura's contract but that a deal cannot get completed for a few more weeks, don't be shocked if BOTH Novak and Reed are cut and Sura is kept on the 15-man roster.

I'm not saying that it's likely. Just that it's possible.