How the Rockets can get Chris Paul AND another star

I have not been reading the GARM in much detail lately, so my apologies if this has already been posited here.

Right now, the Rockets are sitting on a maximum of about $9.7 million in cap room (barring any trades or stretching any existing salary). That's a far cry from from one max salary slot, let alone two. But it looks like the Rockets have serious designs on opening up a ton of cap room this summer.

There is a reason we all heard rumors of the Rockets shopping Ryan Anderson, Lou Williams and Patrick Beverley. They are trying to find a market for each of them via trade. All it takes is one team to be willing to give the Rockets even a top-55 protected second rounder for each player for the Rockets to at least be ABLE to open up additional cap space to sign a star player (such as Chris Paul). My expectation is that the Rockets could definitely get real future assets for Beverley and/or Williams, and there may be at least one team out there willing to take on Anderson's salary without requiring much sweetener from Houston. Sacramento comes to mind.

FWIW, if you can find takers for Anderson and Williams without taking back salary, that should put you RIGHT AROUND Chris Paul's max ($34.65 million, based on the currently projected $99 million salary cap for 2017-18), while still having Gordon, Ariza and Beverley to either keep around or use in trades (whether for Paul George, a Paul Millsap S&T or to get the future assets necessary to get a guy like that).

(As an aside, once Chris Paul were signed, there would be a rookie minimum-sized amount of cap room available to sign someone like Zhou Qi or Cameron Oliver to a THREE-year deal. Once the first such player is signed, another similarly-sized amount of cap room might open up, so a second player could be signed to such a deal. A lot depends on who is still on the roster.)

Salary-wise, Gordon plus a small salary (Dekker? Harrell plus a little more?) is enough to trade for Paul George (who will make around $19.5 million next season). Of course, there would need to be other assets (likely future first rounders) as part of any realistic George package. But if Beverley can net the Rockets a decent future first rounder, and you combine that with the Rockets' 2018 (or other future) first rounder, now you've got a competitive package. (Sure, Boston could crush that package whenever they want, but Ainge has seemed resistant to parting with his most prized future draft pick assets thus far.)

If a George trade is not feasible, the Rockets might turn their attention to a S&T for Paul Millsap. New Hawks GM Travis Shlenk has been publicly open about the team's willingness to entertain a S&T for Millsap. Given that they were willing to take the Miles Plumlee pu pu platter in exchange for a still-serviceable Dwight Howard, it is certainly possible for the Rockets to put together an interesting package for Millsap. A lot would depend on how large a starting salary Millsap would command. Perhaps Gordon plus Beverley is enough to make salaries match.

Bottom line: I'm not necessarily advocating for ANY of this. I'm just setting forth a roadmap that the Rockets will likely attempt to use to go from one All-Star caliber player to THREE.

Buckle up, folks. It's going to be a VERY interesting next few weeks.