Hoops Rumors takes a look back at the 2024 offseason for all 30 NBA teams, recapping the summer’s free agent signings, trades, draft picks, departures and more. We’ll look at each team’s offseason moves and consider what else could happen before the regular season begins. Today, we’re focusing on the Houston Rockets.
Free Agent Signings
Aaron Holiday:Two years, $9,569,400. Second-year team option. Re-signed using a two-year exception. Waived his trade veto.- Nate Hinton:One year, minimum wage. Not guaranteed (Exhibit 10). Re-signed using the minimum wage exception.
- Jermaine Samuels:One year, minimum wage. Not guaranteed (Exhibit 10). Re-signed using the minimum wage exception.
Jobs
- Acquired the Suns’ 2027 first-round pick, either the Mavericks’ or Suns’ 2029 first-round pick (whichever is more favorable), the rights to trade for the Suns’ 2025 first-round pick, and the rights to trade for the Mavericks’ or Suns’ 2029 first-round pick (whichever is less favorable) from the Nets in exchange for the Nets’ 2026 first-round pick and control of the Nets’ 2025 first-round pick (negating the Rockets’ right to trade either their own 2025 first-round pick or the Thunder’s 2025 first-round pick for Brooklyn’s pick).
- Acquired AJ Griffin Hawks in three-team trade for draft rights Pelle Larsson (Pick #44; for the Heat).
Draft Picks
- 1-3: Reed Sheppard
- Signed to an entry-level contract (four years, $45,853,024).
Double-sided signatures
Free Agents Left/Unsigned
Other movements
Salary cap situation
- Operating above the cap ($140.6 million) and below the luxury tax threshold ($170.8 million).
- Carrying a salary of approximately $163.9 million.
- Capped at $178,132,000.
- Full mid-level exception ($12.8 million) available.
- One traded player exception available (worth $797,080).
The offseason so far
After making a splash on the free agent market a year ago by signing several Fred Van Vleet, Dillon Brooksand a handful of other veterans, the Rockets had a much quieter summer in 2024.
Houston’s only real notable move in free agency was bringing back backup point guard Aaron Holiday on a two-year deal that is not guaranteed beyond 2024/25. Holiday was solid in a rotational role last season, but is unlikely to play more than 15-18 minutes per game.
The team also took a small step into the trading market by acquiring AJ Griffin Griffin was drafted by Atlanta in exchange for the 44th overall pick in this year’s draft. A first-round pick in 2022, Griffin had a promising rookie season, averaging 8.9 points per game and a .390 3-point percentage, then missed significant time in 2023-24 with leg and ankle injuries and personal issues. He wasn’t effective even when he played, but Houston is banking on a bounce-back season for a player who will remain on his affordable rookie contract for two more seasons.
Although the Rockets didn’t control their own 2024 first-round pick, one of the first-rounders they acquired from Brooklyn in 2010 James Harden The blockbuster paid off, going third on lottery night. Houston used that selection to draft Reed Sheppardwho posted a .521 three-point percentage in his lone collegiate season at Kentucky. After adding Griffin and Sheppard, it’s clear the Rockets have made improving a three-point percentage (35.2 percent) that ranked 23rd in the NBA last season an offseason priority.
The rest of the Rockets’ moves are arguably more notable for what they mean for the future than for the impact they will have in the short term.
Houston picked up its team options on Jeff Green ($8 million) and Jae’Sean Tate ($7.6 million) while guaranteeing Jock LandaleGreen’s $8 million salary for the 2024-25 season gives the team nearly $24 million in expiring contracts that could prove useful at this season’s trade deadline. Green, Tate and Landale are expected to see action during the regular season, but none are guaranteed to spend the entire year in the rotation, especially if the club’s younger players continue to improve — they could be more valuable as trade chips.
The Rockets also gave up control of the Nets’ first-round picks in 2025 (they had trade rights) and 2026 (they would have acquired the pick from Brooklyn outright) in exchange for two future first-round picks and two future trades. Three of those four are Suns picks. It’s an interesting play for Houston, which pushes its trade assets further into the future and bets against Phoenix’s longevity as a contending team, as most of those picks and trades are for 2027 or 2029.
To be continued
With plenty of expiring cash 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.
But by the start of the regular season, the most pressing question is whether to extend Alpen Sengun and/or Jalen GreenBoth players are eligible for rookie contract extensions through Oct. 21.
Sengun had a breakout year in 2023-24, finishing third in Most Improved Player voting after averaging 21.1 points per game, 9.3 rebounds per game and 5.0 assists per game. Green’s scoring average declined, but he continued to show flashes of stardom, including a 20-game stretch from February to April in which he recorded 26.6 points per game, 6.1 rebounds per game and 4.3 assists per game while shooting .465/.381/.822.
Still, Green remains a generally inconsistent shooter and defender; Sengun, who was injured to end the season, isn’t much of 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. That’s not to say Sengun and Green aren’t worthy of extensions, but neither is a no-brainer for Houston, especially if those 2021 first-rounders are looking for max salaries or something close to it.
It’s also unclear whether the Rockets want to retain the flexibility to potentially free up space under the maximum salary cap in 2025. If so, it certainly would make sense to delay an extension for Sengun, at the very least. His salary cap hit as a restricted free agent would be just $16.3 million, well below his projected first-year salary on a new contract. Green’s salary cap hit would be just over $31 million, so delaying an extension for him would only create additional flexibility if Houston expects to pay him more than that in 2025/26.
