The Rockets enter the 2020-21 NBA season needing to make every roster spot count. After the sign-and-trade acquisition of Christian Wood in the 2020 offseason, Houston is subject to a hard salary cap at the luxury tax “apron” level of $138.9 million, which they cannot exceed under any circumstances.
Complicating matters further, the previously non-guaranteed salary owed to second-year guard Chris Clemons became fully guaranteed once he suffered a season-ending Achilles injury in the preseason. As a result, first-year Rockets GM Rafael Stone will have an intricate dance to perform in the upcoming season to manage the payroll of Houston’s roster.
That’s all if the Rockets stay the course, though. With franchise icon James Harden having requested a trade in the offseason, Houston could potentially find itself with plenty of room beneath the hard cap, if they shed his team-leading salary of $41.3 million. But at the moment, Stone and the Rockets have suggested that they’re willing to push forward with Harden and delay any trade until the proposals are to their liking.
Led by Harden, here’s how the 2020-21 roster currently stacks up.
Rockets will also convert Brodric Thomas to a two-way deal per Feigen in his report.
With Gerald Green waived, DeMarcus Cousins is all but set to make the roster.
Houston will enter the season just $1.1M below the apron and are currently $5.2M over the tax for a $7.9M payment. https://t.co/vp9MEHFVv1 pic.twitter.com/BTY4ux8dHg
— Yossi Gozlan (@YossiGozlan) December 19, 2020
(Editor’s note: Salary figures are from the HoopsHype database, while NBA experience, statistics, and personal data are from NBA.com.)