While they could liven up the Draft with their 3rd choice, the Rockets must also consider the fate of their own “free agents”. First there are those who are at the end of their contract like Aaron Holiday, Reggie Bullock Jr. And Boban Marjanovic. Only the first would be offered a new contract.
Then, and this is the most important, there are the “team option” that managers can activate, or not, on Jeff Green, Jock Landale And Jae'Sean Tate. According to Houston Chroniclemanagement wants to keep the three, and they will receive 8, 9 and 7.5 million dollars respectively next season.
The Rockets are keen on Jeff Green
For Jae'Sean Tate and Jock Landale, the deadline is June 28, and we will know just after the Draft if they fit into management's plans. For Jeff Green, they can wait until July 11 but the daily reports that they have already informed the teams interested in his profile that they wanted to keep him.
If three of them expire, the Rockets will then have 12 players under contract, to which it may be necessary to add the rookies selected Wednesday and Thursday night. They will then have the possibility of recruiting a free agent, and they have in their possession a “mid-level exception” of 12.9 million dollars. They could give some of it to Aaron Holiday for their 15th and final contract.
Team option : possibility for a team to activate (or not) the last year of the contract of one of its players, so that he ends his lease or becomes free agent a year in advance.
Mid-level exception : envelope of approximately 13 million dollars available each year to recruit all NBA franchises which do not pay luxury tax. They can use it on one or more players. A team that must pay the luxury tax only has 5.2 million. Since 2023/24, if a team significantly exceeds the high bar of the salary cap (by more than 17.5 million dollars), it loses its “mid-level exception”.
