Willie Cauley-Stein to sign 10-day contract with Houston Rockets

Willie Cauley-Stein has finally landed on a new NBA team. The former first-team All-American has not played in an NBA game this year and started the season out with the Rio Grande Vipers, the G-League affiliate of the Houston Rockets. However, the Rockets are now reportedly ready to call WCS up to the main roster and are planning to give him a 10-day deal.

Shams Charania reported that news Monday morning in this tweet:

“The Houston Rockets are planning to sign center Willie Cauley-Stein to a 10-day contract, sources tell me and @KellyIko. Cauley-Stein, a seven-year NBA veteran, has spent the season with Rockets‘ Rio Grande Valley G League affiliate.”

There you have it. Former Kentucky star Willie Cauley-Stein joins TyTy Washington in Houston after John Wall just left. Wall’s absence, along with some other recent moves following the deadline, is a big part of why Cauley-Stein got signed. With Wall and other veterans cut after being moved to Houston ahead of the trade deadline, the Rockets had just 13 players on the roster, below the minimum required 14. Monday was the final day Houston could have less than 14 players and needed to sign someone, so they opted to give a temporary deal to a G-Leaguer with plenty of NBA experience.

Who knows whether Houston plans to keep Cauley-Stein on the roster, but it’s obvious they could use his rim protection and general defensive impact. Prior to this season, in which he’s not played a game yet, Willie was moved Philadelphia during 2021-22, where he only showed up in two games. The year before that, he was teammates with Luka Doncic in Dallas for a stint and played rotation minutes at center.

Even if the Rockets don’t keep Cauley-Stein for long, perhaps he can show enough value defensively to warrant a contender picking him up as a bench piece ahead of the playoffs. It’s a nice opportunity for the big man, assuming he actually gets in the games.