Rockets with expiring contracts

They don't need to be worth anything at all on the court, necessarily. When a team needs to shed payroll, these guys are their salvation.

 

And payroll shedding ususally heats up around the Feb trading deadline.

 

Expiring contracts aren't nearly as valuable trade assets before the regular season as they are at the trade deadline. You could trade David Wesley with an expiring contract right now and maybe get a higher going rate than just face value because of said contract; but that wouldn't be as much of a megaplier now as it would be in February. Weatherspoon, on the other hand, would be virtually untradeable now, even with the same expiring contract. In the summer, if you were a team concerned about payroll, you'd still have to be concerned about the team - to start the season, at least. David Wesley could contribute for you, and at the end of the year his contract would be a bonus. Clarence Weatherspoon sucks. And you'd have to pay his contract for the whole suckass year before getting the reward of capspace.

Now, if you were obviously out of the playoffs come All Star time, there'd be no point in improving your team for 30 meaningless games. So, while the fans aren't watching anyway, field a few crappy players. And when the offseason comes, take your newfound capspace and get a player you really want.

 

In the past two years, Rasheed, SAR, Marbury, Vince, and Baron Davis have been traded in-season for essentially expiring contracts. If we hold onto our expiring contracts we could land a high salary player ourselves, or help facilitate a threeway deal and get some players or picks for our troubles.

 

Well put. If we hold on to some of these expiring contracts until the trade dealine, we may be able to land a player that will help us get to the WCF or maybe even the Finals.