Back in July, there were reports from both sides claiming Chuck Hayes had accepted a partially guaranteed, veteran minimum contract to return to the Houston Rockets. Well, Thursday came word that Hayes won't be going back to Houston and right now he is looking at other options. From Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle:
- "'I think when we came up with the agreement, after that point, they had some other activity, the Ty Lawson trade, the Jason Terry signing,' Hayes' agent, Calvin Andrews said. “That put Chuck in a precarious situation. The result of that squeezed him out of the equation. They had some cap stuff they were concerned with. We didn’t get into a lot of details. It’s a tough situation. It’s very disappointing. This is the business. These things happen. I commend them for telling us now as opposed to dragging us through camp. We’ll explore if there are other teams interested. He wants to continue to play.'"
Currently the Rockets are over the tax line by $1.47 million, which results in a $2.21 million bill. At this time they may only sign 2015 second round pick Montrezl Harrell to a guaranteed salary for 2015-16 to keep their tax bill as low as possible. Once Harrell signs his deal, the Rockets will have 14 players under contract and that might be the group that starts the upcoming regular season.
