Prior to Wednesday's trade to the Hornets, Trevor Ariza was not expected to play as many minutes as he did during his first season with Houston.

His role was going to be reduced, with Kevin Martin in Houston and Shane Battier and Chase Budinger seeing time at small forward.

"It was going to be difficult for coach (Rick Adelman) to figure out how to make the minutes work at the 'three' spot," general manager Daryl Morey said.

"Trevor put his heart and tireless effort into the team last year. He was a huge reason we were able to surprise the league and have a winning season when Yao Ming was out."

Ariza averaged a career-high 14.9 points last season.