With news coming in that insurance will cover part of his contract, suddenly Yao Ming’s contract is worth a lot more to owners and GM’s in a post-lockout world than you might think. Yahoo!‘s Adrian Wojnarowski is reporting that multiple teams are lined up to bid on Yao’s contract for that money, and it could result in a big coup for the Rockets:
With lure of insurance offering $8M discount on his expiring $17M salary, Houston exploring Yao Ming trade on several fronts, sources tell Y! Some teams exploring trade for Yao to re-sign him on short deal, or just get cap relief on his expiring deal, sources say.
As soon as Yao went down, it was clear that his contract was going to be a big part of the Rockets efforts to improve the team. Now that the Rockets appear to have righted the ship, it’s all about letting Daryl Morey do what he does best: trade.
Maybe it won’t bring back Carmelo Anthony, but it’s pretty clear that Yao’s contract will be able to bring in something good for the Rockets this year.