Key contract dates looming for Gary Clark, Isaiah Hartenstein

If the decision is purely on basketball merit, here’s why both Gary Clark and Isaiah Hartenstein should stick around with the Rockets.

Within the first week of 2020, we may learn quite a bit about the Houston Rockets and their financial strategy over the new year.

On Jan. 5 and Jan. 7, young prospects Gary Clark and Isaiah Hartenstein will begin out-earning the partial guarantees on their current contracts.

To this point, there was no real incentive to consider trading or releasing either player, since their salary until early January was already locked in. But once 2020 arrives, what happens with Clark and Hartenstein could be a key indicator regarding the role of the NBA’s luxury tax in the team’s roster decisions and any directive from owner Tilman J. Fertitta.

With Houston’s roster now full at 15 standard players after signing rookie guard Chris Clemons to a three-year deal last week, the Rockets could let one player go without being required to fill the roster spot at all. They could simply save cash on that spot, should they choose. (They could also let both players go and eventually fill one roster slot via cheaper alternatives, such as a player on a 10-day contract.)

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From a basketball perspective, there wouldn’t seem to be a case to move on from either player. Hartenstein, a 21-year-old seven-footer, averaged 14 points on 72.2% shooting and 11 rebounds in 29.3 minutes over two games last weekend, with usual starting center Clint Capela out injured.

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Meanwhile, the 6-foot-6 Clark has played minutes for Mike D’Antoni this season as both a power forward and as a small-ball center. Known best for his defense, the 25-year-old has also improved his 3-point shooting from 29.7% a season ago to 34.0% this year.

In December, as he’s received more consistent playing time, Clark has boosted that 3-point percentage to 37.5% in 10 games — including two outings on Dec. 9 and Dec. 21 with three makes in five attempts (60%).

Even if neither player has distinguished himself yet as a potential rotation piece in the playoffs, they’re viable depth pieces near the end of D’Antoni’s bench to help the Rockets survive inevitable regular-season injuries. Moreover, they’re among the youngest players on one of the NBA’s oldest rosters and seem to have upside for further improvement.

Thus, there wouldn’t seem to be a basketball-related reason to let either Hartenstein or Clark go. That might change after February’s trade deadline, if the Rockets need to open up a roster spot to sign a buyout candidate that they view as a fit. But if the Rockets were inclined to experiment with any current free agent such as J.R. Smith, Jamal Crawford, or Luc Mbah a Moute, they already had a roster spot open for over a month after waiving Ryan Anderson in late November.

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There’s also the issue of tradable salary as GM Daryl Morey approaches the deadline. Since the Rockets are above the league’s salary cap, they have to send out nearly as much money as they take in to consummate any trade. That’s harder than it might sound, since Houston doesn’t have much in the way of filler salary from non-essential players — especially since veterans Austin Rivers and Gerald Green have trade veto power.

Any free agent signing cannot be traded for 60 days, per the terms of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. By this point, that timetable would run beyond the 2019-20 deadline for any new acquisition.

Between the merits of Hartenstein and Clark’s own play, the knowledge that the Rockets already had an open roster spot for over a month and didn’t deem any current free agent worthy of using it for, and the ability of both young players to be traded, there doesn’t seem to be any reason other than saving money to move on from either player at this juncture.

Both players have also earned rave reviews from Houston’s starplayers, led by former MVPs James Harden and Russell Westbrook.

It should be noted that if the Rockets do move on from one or both players, it doesn’t yet prove that they plan to completely avoid the luxury tax this season. (At the moment, they’re very close to the line.)

It could be that the Rockets still pay the tax, but want to minimize the extent of payments. Or they might not see either Hartenstein or Clark as worthy of greenlighting tax payments, whereas a more proven veteran option that might come available in February by trade or buyout could lead to a different conclusion. It’s not a binding referendum on whether the team will pay the tax this season.

It is, however, another key inflection point in which we’ll learn more about Fertitta in his third season owning the team. Be it for on-court play or future trade purposes, there doesn’t seem to be any basketball-related reason to move on from Hartenstein or Clark in the coming days.

Rather, the primary beneficiary of such a move would be the owner’s pocketbook. Could that be enough to force a transaction that would seem to be against the team’s best interests on the court? We’ll soon find out.