Bogdan Bogdanovic is headed to Houston. The veteran guard signed a one-year deal with the Rockets on Tuesday, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania. It’s a move that makes a lot of sense for a team that ranked near the bottom of the league in three-point shooting last season.
Here’s the part that might surprise you: Bogdanovic barely played for the Clippers last year. A hamstring injury limited him to just 23 games, and when he did suit up, he looked nothing like the guy who used to torch defenses in Sacramento and Atlanta. He averaged career lows across the board — 7.4 points, 34.7 percent from deep, 2.6 rebounds, and 2.2 assists. Not great numbers for a 33-year-old guard whose game has always relied on being a threat from the outside.
But Houston isn’t signing him for what he did last season. They’re betting on the Bogdanovic who shot 38 percent from three over his first eight years in the league. The same Bogdanovic who showed up in the playoffs for Atlanta and hit big shots when it mattered. That version of him is still out there somewhere, and the Rockets think a change of scenery might help him find it again.
This isn’t a splashy move. It’s not going to move the betting lines or generate buzz on talk shows. What it is, though, is a low-risk flier on a guy with a track record of doing one thing really well. And the Rockets desperately need that thing.
Charania reported that Houston executives recruited Bogdanovic personally before he made the call. That tells you something about how badly they wanted him. They didn’t just send an offer and wait. They went and got him.
The deal is for one year. That’s important. If Bogdanovic bounces back, great — the Rockets get a bargain shooter for a season and can figure out the rest later. If he doesn’t, they’re not stuck with a multi-year contract. There’s no downside here.
For Bogdanovic, this is a chance to remind people he can still play. He’s entering his 10th NBA season, and the last couple of years have been rough. Injuries and inconsistent minutes have a way of messing with a shooter’s rhythm. Houston should be able to give him a clearer role and more consistent run.
Whether that actually happens depends on health, of course. Hamstrings are tricky. But the Rockets are betting he’s past the worst of it.
More details on the contract structure should come out in the next day or two. For now, Houston added a shooter. That’s the headline. And for a team that shot 35.2 percent from three last season, that alone is worth paying attention to.
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