Report: Francisco Garcia returns to Rockets on 1-year deal
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After declining his 2014-15 player option - worth $1.3 million - in order to hit unrestricted free agency earlier this offseason, swingman Francisco Garcia has opted to re-sign with the Houston Rockets, for a whopping ... $1.3 million.
As reported by Mark Berman of FOX 26 Houston Thursday night, and later confirmed via Twitter by GM Daryl Morey, Garcia's flirtation with free agency bore no substantial fruit, and he'll be returning to Houston for the veteran's minimum.
"He liked the opportunity," Garcia's agent Aaron Goodwin told Berman. "He felt he could continue to help the team in a number of ways outside of just being a good guard on the team.
"He thought that he'd have an opportunity to play there a little bit more with Chandler Parsons being gone."
With Garcia returning, the Rockets will add some much-needed depth to the wing, where they get awfully thin awfully quick. All-NBA First Teamer James Harden and offseason acquisition Trevor Ariza will log most of the team's minutes at the two and three, respectively, but production falls off a cliff once they get into their reserves.
At the least, Garcia offers the cap-conscious Rockets a cheap three-and-D option with nine years of NBA experience, solid size and length, and a career 36.1 three-point percentage.
In 55 games last season, Garcia averaged 5.7 points and 2.2 rebounds in 19.7 minutes per game, with two-thirds of his field goal attempts coming from beyond the arc.