The Houston Rockets continued trimming their training camp roster on Saturday by releasing three players who had been brought in on Exhibit 10 deals.
Wing Bryce Harris, forward Cameron Matthews, and guard Caleb McConnell were all waived, according to the NBA’s official transaction log.
None of the three was expected to compete for a standard roster spot; instead, the moves clear the way for them to join Houston’s G League affiliate, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, where they can earn bonuses of up to $91,000 by spending at least 60 days with the team.
These cuts leave the Rockets with 18 players still under contract, though only two of those are on two-way deals. That imbalance means Houston must complete at least one more transaction before Monday’s deadline to finalize regular-season rosters.
Of the remaining group, 12 hold fully guaranteed contracts. Veteran forward Jae’Sean Tate is on a partially guaranteed deal, while Isaiah Crawford’s contract remains non-guaranteed.
Forward Oscar Tshiebwe and wing Julian Phillips are the last two players still carrying Exhibit 10 agreements.
League observers expect one of those two—Tshiebwe or Phillips—to be converted to a two-way contract before the deadline. If that happens, Houston could simply convert the remaining Exhibit 10 player to a standard, non-guaranteed deal and open the season with a full 15-man roster.
Yet financial considerations may push the front office in a different direction.
The Rockets currently sit only about $14,000 below the luxury tax threshold, and adding a 15th standard-contract player would push them into tax territory.
For that reason, many around the league anticipate that Houston will deliberately leave the final roster spot open at the start of the season.
A more intricate maneuver remains available if the team wants to avoid even a modest cap hit associated with waiving a non-guaranteed player late in the process.
Houston could convert one of the two Exhibit 10 players to a two-way deal, then waive that player and immediately convert the other to a two-way contract.
Such a sequence would satisfy the two-way requirement without forcing the club over the tax line or creating unnecessary dead money.
Whatever path general manager Rafael Stone ultimately chooses, the decision must be completed by Monday, when every NBA team is required to set its opening-night roster.
The Rockets’ remaining choices will reveal how aggressively they intend to manage the tax line while still preserving developmental options in the G League.
