Recent comments from new Rockets GM Rafael Stone have made two things very clear: Houston intends to use its taxpayer Mid-Level Exception (MLE) in the 2020 offseason, and the team plans to spend well into the NBA’s luxury tax on its total 2020-21 season payroll.
Financially, that luxury tax threshold is a place the Rockets haven’t been since owner Tilman Fertitta bought the team in October 2017.
But for several reasons, this time appears to be different. In a Monday appearance on ESPN’s The Jump, veteran NBA insider Brian Windhorst laid out one more crucial reason: making James Harden happy.
Regarding Harden, here’s what Windhorst said:
I think the interesting part about this interview was that he [Stone] was very clear about spending into the luxury tax, that he was going to have the ability to spend the Mid-Level Exception [MLE] into the luxury tax. That’s an important message, not just for the Rockets’ fans, that’s an important message for James Harden. Because the person he’s really got to sell on the short-term future of this team is Harden.
Because Harden’s seen a lot of change, and not all of it looks so positive, quite frankly, over the last couple years. The Rockets have a good roster, no doubt, but their roster is thin. They need some more support on that roster, but they are so close to the luxury tax, something they have avoided when it comes to spending the Mid-Level Exception. They have used draft picks to offload salary the last two years. I’m willign to believe Tilman Fertitta, the owner, and Rafael Stone, the GM, that they are going to spend to add to this roster. But I’ll wait and see, and I’m probably not the only one who is going to be watching.
“They have… the hardest thing to get, and that’s a franchise, superstar player,” Windhorst concluded. “He’s in his prime, and there’s no reason for him to not keep going forward. We’ll see how it goes.”
Now 31 years old and still in search of his first NBA title, Harden has a player option to potentially enter free agency in 2022. In turn, that makes the 2020-21 season quite critical. Because if the Rockets don’t make progress in their championship ambitions by the 2021 offseason and haven’t given Harden a clear long-term reason to stay, Houston might have to begin considering trades — rather than risk the All-Star guard and former MVP going elsewhere for no compensation in 2022 free agency.
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On the other hand, if Houston aggressively upgrades its roster by using the taxpayer MLE (worth a starting salary of ~$5.7 million last season) in free agency and perhaps explores trades as well, the Rockets might build upon their recent No. 4 finish in the Western Conference and give Harden a more convincing reason to believe in the team’s longer-term future.
When free agency begins later this month, many fans will be hoping to see Fertitta greenlight Stone to spend more aggressively. It wouldn’t be a surprise if Harden — the league’s only All-NBA First Team member and MVP finalist in each of the last four seasons — is watching closely, as well.
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