yeh he refused to go to the NBA with atlanta so he might now with houston if he sees they hav a genuine title shot

OMG now Andersen can help Newley get on board too, and then once T-Mac and Yao go down they should trade for Mills and Jawai. They would be awesome cos they played well at Olympics and in china.

...and then they can trade for Brett Rainbow...I here he has a huge upside.

The reason DA didnt go to Atlanta had nothing to do with whether they were a contender or not. They were only willing to ever offer him a rookie wage and he was never going to take a pay cut from $3 million Euro a year down to $500,000 or $600,000 USD.

I doubt Houston have the cap space to sign him to anywhere near as much as he is already on so I'd say he will stay in Europe.

I think that means Yao is out for the season - they will have some money to throw around - he'll be a good C/PF back up for them

Agree with DJ Rod...I think he will be signed to a 1 or 2 year deal that matches his Euro salary. Yao will be lucky to be fit to play even 1 game next season. He will play 15-20min a game as a back up PF and will provide them with some value with his perimeter shooting.

They were granted an injury exemption for Yao about 2 weeks ago. They used the 5.7 mill from the exemption to sign Ariza.

That means they still have their full MLE. They have lost both Yao and Mutumbo so desperately need depth at centre. The only reason for this move is they intend to sign him as a backup, and are willing to pay enough to make it worth his while.

It will be interesting to see if they can tempt DA to come to the US given the likely pay cut he would have to take. But you wouldn't think Houston would trade for his rights unless they thought they had a legit shot at signing him for next season!

Hope it happens, would be interesting to see how DA's shooting game goes in the NBA. Might be a bit of a Vlad Rad - but with better bulk and less mobility?

Im sure they have something worked out with his agent before they traded for him. I never saw him as an NBA talent, it will be interesting to see how he goes.

From what I can work out, Houston still have the MLE and bi-annual to use. They should be able to split that between Andersen and Budinger and make both of them happy.

BA have jumped on this breaking news and have actually been in contact with Andersen who is on holiday in Melbourne and since posted a news update.

Here is a grab:

I've spoken with the coach and the general manager and they're all excited about me coming in and this is why the main deal was done, so things are going ahead and they're just sorting out the particulars of the contract," Andersen said.

"I should get something signed and sealed in the next few days.

"Obviously to replace Yao is probably impossible because he's such a big guy and such a good player, so I'll just try to step in and help the team out and hopefully get an opportunity to play some good minutes.

"Training camp doesn't start until September some time so realistically they won't start until then but I'll probably be heading over there in the next ten days or so to do the signing, meet everyone, do the medicals and the press stuff.

Andersen described the opportunity to play in the NBA as a dream come true, even if he may have to take a pay cut to do it.

"You grow up looking at the NBA as the pinnacle of basketball and I've always had ambitions to play there.

"I've had a great time in Europe and played with some of the best clubs around there, so it's been really good, and now I'm going to try to take on the challenge of playing in the NBA."

"For me to go to the NBA I'm taking a slight financial hit because I've been playing for one of the best teams in the world and I've been taken care of very well, but I'm not going to be struggling.

"Who knows, if I do well in my first few years over there then maybe I can get lucky and land a big contract."

Full story and audio: http://linky.com.au/ufm61

Great news. Another Aussie in the NBA. Congrats to Anderson.

I thought another part of Andersen's misgivings about the NBA was the fact he wanted to be reasonably assured of getting PT... I'd say he'd be willing to settle for a little less as long as he gets cour time... He'd be loaded after playing/iving in Europe for a while... Houston (given what we know now) looks a pretty good fit for him right now...

Andersen will get quite a few minutes. It's either him starting at the 5 or Joey Dorsey at the moment.

I don't know about how well he will do. If he struggles in international how can he expect to make an impact in the NBA

He can pick and pop all game long in the NBA if he's playing the 5. The question will be, can he defend and rebound at an NBA level?

Boguts twitter

Andrew Bogut: Congrats 2 my National Teamate David AndersEn. Rumors is he is signing w/Houston. Im happy for him cause I know how much he wanted it! Yesterday