Subscribe
Follow Us
Coming off the news that the Houston Rockets will land Kevin Durant in a trade, it's time for the team to look at the rest of the roster and see how the contracts fit. With the Rockets approaching a decision on Fred VanVleet's contract, since it's a team option at $44.9 million, the latest reporting speaks on the most likely situation to happen because of it.
Marc Stein of “The Stein Line” wrote about Houston's conundrum with VanVleet now that Durant is on the roster and will command a sizable amount with an expected contract extension. Stein would report that on top of the expectation that VanVleet and the team will “do a new deal,” meaning they'll decline the option, but a “potential scenario” is that both of their contracts will “line up.”
“The expectation is that VanVleet and the Rockets would simply ‘do a new deal,' according to one source, if the team indeed relinquishes the option it holds by Sunday's deadline,” Stein wrote. “The parties, remember, mutually agreed to move the option deadline to June 29 after VanVleet's contract initially stipulated a decision five days after Houston's season ended.”
“Durant, meanwhile, will become eligible with his new team on July 6 to tack on a two-year extension in excess of $120 million to his expiring $54.7 million salary for 2025-26,” Stein continued. “One potential scenario: Contracts for VanVleet and Durant that ultimately line up length-wise and take them to age 34 and 39, respectively.”
Reports suggesting that Fred VanVleet won't be anywhere but the Rockets
If the guard were to return, VanVleet would be on a Rockets team without Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks, since they were part of the deal that is being sent to the Phoenix Suns for Durant. However, while Houston is “still deciding” what they will do with VanVleet's team option, there seems to be “no scenario in circulation” that the 31-year-0ld will be another team.
“League sources say that the Rockets are still deciding how to proceed with Fred VanVleet's $44.9 million team option,” Stein wrote. “There is no scenario in circulation, however, to suggest that VanVleet will be anywhere other than Houston when training camp opens in late September.”
“Sources say that the Rockets have not signaled to rival teams that they would entertain sign-and-trade proposals for Van Vleet in the event they passed on picking up the team option and allowed their lead guard to become an unrestricted free agent,” Stein continued.
Last season, VanVleet averaged 14.1 points, 5.6 assists, and 3.7 rebounds per game while shooting 37.8 percent from the field and 34.5 percent from beyond the arc in 60 games.
At any rate, the Rockets are looking to further improve after finishing second in the Western Conference with a 52-30 record before they were eliminated in seven games by the Golden State Warriors in the first round of the NBA Playoffs.
