When the Houston Rockets made the decision to trade for Iman Shumpert, they were making the move in hopes of Shumpert being the 3-and-D player that he had proven to be prior to that point. Shumpert was a necessary ingredient to the 2015-16 Cleveland Cavaliers, as he made 38.2 percent of his threes in the playoffs, which was better than four-time champion LeBron James.
The Rockets had lost 3-and-D specialist Trevor Ariza in the 2018 offseason, which proved to be a sizable gap that they needed to fill. Rockets GM Daryl Morey decided that Shumpert, who had championship experience, was worth acquiring, which was a logical move, considering that he was on an expiring contract and had similar skills as Ariza.