Rockets Sign Bruce Thornton To Four-Year Contract

According to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link), Thornton received a four-year deal worth roughly $9.3MM, which is equivalent to his minimum. Only the first year is fully guaranteed, Scotto adds.

The Rockets used the second-round pick exception to complete the signing, which means the final year (2029/30) will be a team option.

Thornton averaged 19.9 points, 5.1 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.1 steals in 36.5 minutes per game during his senior year at Ohio State in 2025/26. The 6’2″ guard, who played for the Buckeyes for four seasons, posted an extremely efficient shooting line of .554/.400/.829 in ’25/26 and had an assist-to-turnover ratio of around 3:1 over the course of his college career.

Thornton made the All-Big Ten second team in 2025 and 2026 after earning a spot on the third team in 2024. He left Ohio State as the program’s all-time leading scorer, with 2,164 career points. According to the Rockets’ press release, he was the first D-I player to register at least 2,000 career points and 500 assists with fewer than 200 turnovers since the NCAA began tracking turnovers in 1992.

Houston didn’t enter the draft with the No. 31 overall pick, but the team reached a trade agreement with the Knicks prior to the start of the second round to move up from No. 39 in order to nab Thornton. As part of the deal, the Rockets moved down from No. 53 to No. 55 (they later traded that pick) and sent a 2029 second-rounder to New York.

The Rockets now officially have 10 players on standard contracts. That figure will increase to 13 once their reported deals with Tari Eason, Marcus Smart, and Bogdan Bogdanovic are official.