NBA Trade Rumors: Lowry to Raptors For Lottery Pick

The 26-year-old point guard had issues with Rockets coach Kevin McHale and asked to be traded this off-season. The Raptors are willing to offer a guaranteed lottery pick for a player that is expected to start from Day 1 in Toronto.

Lowry is the second guard to depart Houston in the last two days. The Rockets allowed Goran Dragic to sign a four-year, $34 million contract with the Phoenix Suns.

It looks like the Rockets may be clearing out their glut of point guards to make a serious run at Knicks restricted free agent Jeremy Lin. The Rockets offered Lin a backloaded four-year, $30 million deal, meant to make it difficult for the Knicks to match the offer.

The deal would pay Lin $5 million annually for the first two years of the deal and then jump up to approximately $10 million for years three and four. Rockets general manager Daryl Morey clearly values Lin and regrets cutting him in December, but offered a contract that is also meant to knock the New York Knicks out of the running for the talented point guard.

The Knicks have repeatedly said that they will match any offer for Lin, but the backloaded deal - known as a poison pill - will make it very expensive to keep him. The main reason is that the final two years would push the Knicks into paying luxury tax payments, potentially as much as $35 million, according to Forbes' Allen St. John.