Josh Powell Waived by Rockets: Latest Details, Comments and More

The Houston Rockets continued the trimming of their non-guaranteed contracts Thursday, waiving forward-center Josh Powell.

Powell, 31, signed a deal with the Rockets at the end of last season that gave them an option for 2014-15. The former North Carolina State star appeared in one regular-season game, scoring four points and grabbing five rebounds in a loss to the New Orleans Pelicans. He'd received only six minutes of playing time during this preseason, all of which came in an Oct. 7 win over the Dallas Mavericks.

Though his release was largely inevitable, Powell told Fox News' Mark Berman that he could have offered more if given the opportunity:

Powell also grew close to some members of the Houston locker room, most notably Dwight Howard. The All-Star center and Powell worked out together in Atlanta during the summer, though Howard didn't have much of consequence to offer on his friend's release:

His one-game stint with the Rockets was the first time Powell had played in an NBA game since the 2010-11 season. Unable to find a suitable contract in free agency, he played in China, Puerto Rico, Greece and the Philippines while looking for NBA work. The Spurs and Knicks brought him in before the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons, respectively, before ultimately cutting him before the regular season.

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It's likely Powell will head back overseas barring another NBA team offering him a contract. His most notable run of success was as a part of the Euroleague-winning Olympiacos team in 2012-13, which he joined after being let go by San Antonio.

The release of Powell and forward Akil Mitchell leaves the Rockets with some work to do before opening night. While it's expected that they will stash some players with guaranteed contracts in the NBA D-League, odds are they'll be forced to eat the partial guarantees of one or two contracts. Houston must trim its NBA roster down to a maximum of 15 players before its regular-season opener Tuesday against the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Rockets come into 2014-15 expected to make the playoffs for a third straight season despite losing Chandler Parsons, Jeremy Lin and Omer Asik this summer.

Follow Tyler Conway (@tylerconway22) on Twitter