The Rockets are starting the 2024-2025 season, and all the buzz is about this young core finally breaking through to the playoffs and hopefully beyond.
But up until late Monday afternoon, the Rockets seemed content allowing two of their star players, Jalen Green and Alperen Sengun, to head into unrestricted free agency next summer. At nearly the last hour, the Rockets beat the Oct. 21 deadline to extend both of their rookie contracts.
Green, the Rockets’ second-overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, received a three-year, $106 million extension, which includes a third-year player option. Then Sengun got his money, reaching a deal on a five-year, $185 million extension.
The Rockets wisely avoided having to compete for their two young stars on the open market next summer, where the price tag would have been much higher. And they did it without having to give either the five-year, approximate $225 million max deals.
The extensions seem to be a major reversal compared to how things seemed as the Oct. 21 deadline loomed. General manager Rafael Stone seemed content to let both players on the club option contracts this season. Doing so might have given the Rockets more cap flexibility but would it had been worth the risk?
“The way the CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement) is set up, you can extend or you don’t have to,” Stone said prior to training camp. “We can always revisit next summer.
“So in that sense there is no gun to our heads or anything else. We will have conversations, we will set what makes sense for us, what makes sense for them and then both sides will make whatever decisions we make.”
Both Green and Sengun are headed toward NBA stardom, and the Rockets organization wants to ride the wave. We’ve seen Green’s moments of greatness, and who can forget his sensational March?
Green, 22, averaged 19.6 points per game, 5.2 rebounds and 3.5 assists while logging 31.43 minutes a night.
Sengun, meanwhile, has come into his own in the post. He led the team last season with a career-high 21.2 points per game and 9.3 rebounds.
Prior to Monday’s extension, Green didn’t see getting an extension before the deadline as a priority.
“That’s not really the focus right now,” said Green. “Whatever happens, obviously I want to be here. The main focus is moving forward. The playoffs is the main focus right now. So that’s what the focus is.”
