Robert Covington will be calling Portland home next season as the Houston Rockets and Portland Trail Blazers finalize a deal sending the current Rockets swingman for former Rockets swingman Trevor Ariza.
The deal also includes a 2020 first-round pick and a 2021 protected first-round pick, according to sources for ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
While the deal can’t be finalized until Wednesday, the Blazers are sending the 16th pick in Wednesday’s draft and another future first-round pick.
Covington was part of 12-player trade in February that gave the Atlanta Hawks big man Clint Capela.
RoCo was traded from Minnesota, with former Rockets employee Gersson Rosas as their GM, while the Timberwolves received two first-round picks from Houston, including the Rocket’s 2020 first-round pick.
Minnesota then traded that pick to Denver for Malik Beasley and Juan Hernangomez.
Covington, 6-foot-7, has become one of the league’s top defenders and has career averages of 12.7 points and 5.7 rebounds per game with three NBA teams spanning seven years.
As for the other member of this trade, Trevor Ariza returns to Houston and is coming off a decent season that saw him play 21 games for Portland while shooting 49 percent from the floor and 40 percent from the three-point line.
The 35-year-old Ariza has career averages of 10.5 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 2.2 assists per game in his 16 seasons.
He missed the NBA bubble, committing instead to a one-month visitation period with his young son.
At this time it is unclear if the Rockets will move forward into next season with Ariza on the roster, amidst all the trade speculations surrounding stars Russell Westbrook and James Harden.