Checking in on Houston Rockets 2024 offseason

• Aaron Holiday: Two years, $9,569,400. Second-year team option. Re-signed using bi-annual exception. Waived right to veto trade.
• Nate Hinton: One year, minimum salary. Non-guaranteed (Exhibit 10). Re-signed using minimum salary exception.
• Jermaine Samuels: One year, minimum salary. Non-guaranteed (Exhibit 10). Re-signed using minimum salary exception.

Trades

• Acquired the Suns’ 2027 first-round pick, either the Mavericks’ or the Suns’ 2029 first-round pick (whichever is more favorable), swap rights for the Suns’ 2025 first-round pick and swap rights for either the Mavericks’ or Suns’ 2029 first-round pick (whichever is least favorable) from the Nets in exchange for the Nets’ own 2026 first-round pick and control of the Nets’ own 2025 first-round pick (negating the Rockets’ right to swap either their own 2025 first-rounder or the Thunder’s 2025 first-rounder for Brooklyn’s pick).
• Acquired AJ Griffin from the Hawks in a three-team trade in exchange for the draft rights to Pelle Larsson (No. 44 pick; to Heat).

Draft picks

• 1-3: Reed Sheppard
  • Signed to rookie scale contract (four years, $45,853,024).

Two-way signings

• N’Faly Dante
• Jack McVeigh
• Jeenathan Williams

Departed/unsigned free agents

• Reggie Bullock (unsigned)
• Boban Marjanovic (unsigned)

Other moves

• Exercised Jeff Green‘s 2024-25 team option ($8,000,000).
• Exercised Jae’Sean Tate‘s 2024-25 team option ($7,565,217).

Salary-cap situation

• Operating over the cap ($140.6M) and below the luxury tax line ($170.8M).
• Carrying approximately $163.9M in salary.
• Hard-capped at $178,132,000.
• Full mid-level exception ($12.8M) available.
• One traded player exception available (worth $797,080).

The offseason so far

After making a major splash on the free agent market a year ago by signing several Fred VanVleet, Dillon Brooks and a handful of other veterans, the Rockets had a much quieter summer in 2024.

Houston’s only real move of note in free agency was to bring back reserve point guard Aaron Holiday on a two-year contract that isn’t guaranteed beyond 2024-25. Holiday was solid in a rotation role last season, but he’s unlikely to play more than 15-18 minutes per game.

The team also made a minor move on the trade market by acquiring AJ Griffin from Atlanta in exchange for the No. 44 overall pick in this year’s draft. A 2022 first-round pick, Griffin had a promising rookie season, with 8.9 PPG and a .390 3PT%, then missed significant time in 2023-24 due to leg and ankle injuries, as well as personal issues. He wasn’t effective even when he did play, but Houston is betting on a bounce-back season for a player who will remain on his affordable rookie scale contract for two more seasons.

While the Rockets didn’t control their own first-round pick in 2024, one of the first-rounders they acquired from Brooklyn in the James Harden blockbuster paid off in a major way, moving up to No. 3 on lottery night. Houston used that selection to draft Reed Sheppard, who posted a .521 3PT% in his lone college season at Kentucky. Having added Griffin and Sheppard, it’s clear the Rockets made it an offseason priority to improve a three-point percentage (35.2%) that ranked 23rd in the NBA last season.

The rest of the Rockets’ moves are arguably more noteworthy for what they mean going forward than the impact they’ll have in the short term.

Houston picked up its team options on Jeff Green ($8M) and Jae’Sean Tate ($7.6M) while guaranteeing Jock Landale‘s $8M salary for 2024-25, giving the team nearly $24M in expendable expiring contracts that could come in handy at this season’s trade deadline. Green, Tate and Landale figure to see some action during the regular season, but none are locks to spend all year in the rotation, especially if the club’s young players continue to improve — they may be more valuable as trade chips.

The Rockets also gave up control of the Nets’ first-round picks in 2025 (they had swap rights) and 2026 (they would’ve acquired Brooklyn’s pick outright) in exchange for two future first-rounders and two future swaps. Three of those four are Suns picks. It’s an interesting play for Houston, which is pushing its trade assets further into the future and betting against Phoenix’s longevity as a contending team, as most of those picks and swaps are for either 2027 or 2029.

Up next

With plenty of expiring money on their books, a surplus of future draft assets, and a handful of talented young players on their roster, the Rockets are well positioned to make a bid for a star if one becomes available on the trade market.

Between now and the start of the regular season, however, the more pressing issue is whether to extend Alperen Sengun and/or Jalen Green. Both players are eligible for rookie scale extensions until Oct. 21.

Sengun enjoyed a breakout year in 2023/24, finishing third in Most Improved Player voting after averaging 21.1 PPG, 9.3 RPG and 5.0 APG. Green’s scoring average declined, but he continued to show flashes of stardom, including one 20-game stretch from February to April in which he put up 26.6 PPG, 6.1 RPG and 4.3 APG on .465/.381/.822 shooting.

Still, Green remains an inconsistent overall shooter and defender; Sengun, who was injured to finish the season, isn’t really a rim protector in the middle; and the Rockets had a higher net rating when each player was off the court than when he was on it. That’s not to say that Sengun and Green don’t deserve extensions, but neither case is a no-brainer for Houston, especially if those 2021 first-rounders are seeking maximum salaries or something close to it.

It’s also unclear whether the Rockets want to maintain the flexibility to potentially clear maximum-salary cap room in 2025. If so, it would certainly make sense to hold off on an extension for Sengun, at least. His cap hold as a restricted free agent would be just $16.3M, far below his projected first-year salary on a new deal. Green’s cap hold would come in just above $31-M, so postponing an extension for him would only create additional cap flexibility if Houston expects to pay him more than that in 2025-26.