NBA Rumors: Austin Rivers Joins Rockets, Green Wants Chris Paul Back

The Houston Rockets have moved swiftly to acquire Austin Rivers once he became an unrestricted free agent after clearing waivers, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

The point guard, who started the season with the Washington Wizards, was traded to the Phoenix Suns when the former acquired Trevor Ariza via trade earlier this month. The Suns, however, waived Rivers the very next day ,making him an unrestricted free agent once he cleared waivers.

The report claimeds the Rockets agreed a deal with Rivers until the end of the season and their quick action was because they saw him as a potential short-term replacement for point guard Chris Paul, who was out for two weeks after sustaining a grade 2 hamstring strain during their recent loss to Miami Heat.

The Rockets are having a difficult season, having already lost 15 games. They won their first game without Paul on Saturday, when they beat the San Antonio Spurs 108-101 and it was thanks to another standout performance from 2017-18 regular season MVP James Harden, who contributed 39 points and 10 assists.

Mike D’Antoni’s team are currently 1-5 without Paul in the team and hope Rivers can supplement some of the point guard’s creativity when he takes the court in the coming days. He could likely be in action when the Rockets take on Oklahoma City Thunder on Christmas Day.

Rockets guard Gerald Green underlined the importance of Paul by admitting the team would try and grind it out and form an understanding during his absence, but was clear they will not be at their best without their main point guard.

"We don't ever want to have that understanding,” Green said after their win over Spurs on Saturday, as quoted in the Houston Chronicle. “We need Chris back, so we don't really want to develop that because we need Chris back. It's good to just try to grind games out without him because this is basketball; things happen. But nah, we need him, man. Chris is everything. We need him back."

It is no secret that Paul and Rivers had a difficult relationship during their time together with the Los Angeles Clippers, but the ESPN report claimed the former had no problems with Rockets signing his former teammate at least until the end of the season.

Rivers, however, would have to step up his game if he was to fill the big boots of Paul, as he had not had the best of seasons after averaging 15.1 points for the Clippers last season. In his 29 games for the Wizards this season, he averaged just 7.2 points in 23.6 minutes.