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Former Los Angeles Lakers big man Tarik Black has a new home. Black has agreed to a deal with the Houston Rockets, reports Sharms Charania of The Vertical. Terms of the contract have not been disclosed.
The Lakers waived Black at the start of free agency, who’s salary for the 2017-18 NBA season was non-guaranteed. Los Angeles cleared $6.7 million in cap space by releasing Tarik after 2.5 seasons with the franchise.
Coincidentally, Black was picked up by the Rockets during his rookie season after he went undrafted in the 2014 NBA Draft. He’ll be heading back to Houston to link up with the latest NBA superteam featuring James Harden and Chris Paul.
It’s a solid pickup for Houston, who get a backup big man who’s going to hustle hard on both ends, doesn’t need touches to turn his motor on and drops a few surprising hammers every week.
Deep in the free agency waters and without cap space to use, the Rockets got a solid 25-year-old big man that was a total professional through these rocky years of the Lakers’ rebuild.