Rockets, Tari Eason Agree To Five-Year Deal

According to Charania, Eason’s contract will be worth $81.5MM and will be fully guaranteed. It will also feature a fifth-year player option and a 10% trade kicker, per Sam Amick of The Athletic (Twitter link).

The 17th overall pick in the 2022 draft, Eason was day-one rotation player for the Rockets, appearing in all 82 games in a rookie and averaging 21.5 minutes per night. However, he was limited to 22 appearances in his second year due to a left leg issue that eventually required him to undergo surgery to treat a benign growth. He has continued to battle the injury bug since then, playing in 57 and 60 games over the past two seasons.

Eason’s stop-and-start availability has limited his development to some extent, but when he’s been healthy and at his best, he has shown the ability to be a highly effective three-and-D wing. The 6’8″ forward’s versatility, athleticism, and 7’2″ wingspan are assets on the defensive end, and he set a career high by knocking down 1.6 three-pointers per game this past season.

Eason’s 35.8% three-point percentage in 2025/26 was dragged down by a miserable 13-for-78 (16.7%) cold spell across 21 games in February and March — he made 44.0% for the rest of the season.

According to Charania (Twitter link), the Rockets and Eason discussed a rookie scale extension last fall, but he chose to play out the season and try his luck in restricted free agency. That move paid off, per Charania, who says the 25-year-old will receive more guaranteed money in his new deal than was on the table last year.

While the fifth-year player option and trade kicker are nice perks for Eason, the Rockets did well to keep his average annual salary in the range of $16MM and still have plenty of breathing room to operate below their presumed hard cap of the second tax apron, even if they don’t find a trade partner for Dorian Finney-Smith.

Eason’s deal could start as low as about $14.05MM, which would leave Houston nearly $12MM below the second apron and with just one or two projected 15-man roster spots left to fill. As Yossi Gozlan of The Third Apron tweets, a flat or descending structure could appeal to the Rockets if they don’t expect to need that extra wiggle room below the apron. In that scenario, they’d still have enough room to add two minimum-salary players.

Houston has now locked up three members of its young core to long-term deals. Alperen Sengun is entering the second year of a five-year, $185MM contract, while Jabari Smith Jr.‘s five-year, $122MM rookie scale extension is just getting underway. Next up for the Rockets figures to be Amen Thompson, who is extension-eligible this offseason.