Although the Houston Rockets are clearly rebuilding and in the early stages of a youth movement, they aren’t yet flush with cash.
For example, when the Rockets traded former MVP Russell Westbrook to Washington in December 2020, they took back another high-priced guard, John Wall. The Wizards had to send out a comparable annual salary figure to make the trade work under the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), and Houston received a future first-round pick for taking on a contract that was viewed as less desirable. Even though Wall is no longer playing for the Rockets due to a mutual agreement, his contract remains on the books entering the 2021-22 season, with both parties hopeful of a trade once he is owed less money.
Thus, even though the Rockets began their rebuild by trading Westbrook and James Harden, they don’t yet have a clean financial slate. They also have veterans Eric Gordon and Danuel House Jr. who are still under contracts that were signed in 2019 — when Harden was still in Houston, and a rebuild wasn’t yet being planned by the front office.
Then again, it’s not as if Houston desperately needed cap space in 2021, anyway. Even if the Rockets had the financial ability to sign top free agents during this past offseason, it seems doubtful that any elite veteran player would have wanted to sign with a team that just finished the 2020-21 season with the NBA’s worst record. In a year or two, though, the Rockets could be viewed as a team on the rise with a young core led by Jalen Green, Kevin Porter Jr. and Christian Wood. In that context, Houston could quickly become a desirable destination for free agents.
That’s assuming they have the money, of course. Courtesy of the HoopsHype salary database, here’s a look at who second-year general manager Rafael Stone has on the books entering 2022 and beyond. This list is sorted by annual salary, ranging from the most to the least.
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