Rockets Face TOUGH DECISIONS On VanVleet & Adams | Will Kevin Durant RUMORS Affect Their Plans?

Rockets Face TOUGH DECISIONS On VanVleet & Adams | Will Kevin Durant RUMORS Affect Their Plans?

on today’s show what should the Houston Rockets be willing to spend to keep Fred Van Vleet and Steven Adams on new contracts this off seasonason plus what the most recent reporting says about Houston’s likelihood in pursuing Kevin Durant it’s all coming up right here at Locked on Rockets this is mission control Houston ignition sequence start 6 5 4 3 2 1 What’s up and welcome to another edition of Locked on Rockets your daily podcast home for everything Houston Rockets basketball as always I’m your host Jackson Gatlin native Houstononian and credentialed media member i’m also the host of Locked on NBA Thursdays be sure to follow along wherever you listen to your podcasts or on YouTube just search Locked on Rockets where the best way you can help us grow our show is to listen every single day on a podcast platform of your choosing and then like comment subscribe on YouTube now today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time download the Game Time app create an account use code locked on NBA for $20 off of your first purchase and as always thanks so much for making Locked on Rockets part of your day every single day whether it’s on your way to work on your lunch break in the gym thank you so much for being an everydayer on today’s show we got a smorgus board of topics to hit on a little bit later on we’ll talk about uh the Knicks reported interest in Emeoka and uh the Dunksteraut jerseys being back which is fun as well as the recent reporting from Sham Shirania about Houston’s interest in Kevin Durant what that reporting tells us about the kind of Kevin Durant sweep stakes but where we’re going to start is with kind of two of the biggest decisions that the Houston Rockets have to make this offseason that’s what to do with both Fred Van Vleet and Steven Adams uh Steven Adams an unrestricted free agent this off seasonason and then Fred Van Vleet who has a team option that could be exercised but in all likelihood will not be exercised for close to $45 million and therefore what should the Houston Rockets be comfortable paying both Fred Van Vleet and Steven Adams this off season in order to retain their services so I want to start by first taking a look at Fred Van Vleet because the issue that the Rockets are kind of faced with here with Fred Vanble Vleet even look even though it feels like a foregone conclusion that the Rockets are you know like more than likely to decline Fred Vanble’s team option and then to renegotiate a contract at a lesser you know at a lower average annual value because realistically right when Fred signed his contract when he came to Houston Fred was not worth Fred is not a $40 million player he’s not the Rockets paid the loser tax if you will in order to acquire Fred’s services and so they paid through the nose to get him and that was kind of understood and I think there’s always been like a little bit of an under the table kind of wink wink nudge nudge like okay I I I was overpaid for two years and that third that third year the team option it looked good for my agent looked good for me but you know understandably you’re never going to actually pick up that option uh it feels like and looks like the Rocket should right decline that option and move on to a new deal i won’t completely rule it out as a possibility though especially given the fact that both sides agreed to push back the trigger date until the end of June and that kind of you know lends itself to the idea that maybe just maybe the Rockets might be working on some kind of a trade behind the scenes or if not a trade behind the scenes for this off seasonason maybe they’re thinking that something could be had you know at this upcoming trade deadline or maybe they’d just rather you know get Fred for one more year as opposed to being locked into you know Fred’s services for the next three four years on a brand new deal especially if you really believe in the future of Reed Shepard with this Houston Rockets team then it’s be a lot harder to envision okay well if you lock down Fred for three or four more seasons then what do you do if Reed Shepard’s ready to be the starting point guard a year from now right not this not this season but like next season right year three Reed Shepard that may be a little ambitious but you get what I’m saying right it’s just that you know there’s a lot of factors to consider here including Fred’s age right he’s 31 years old and he’s a he’s an undersized point guard at 31 years old coming off one of his worst shooting seasons of his career um Fred provides a lot to this Rockets team but you also have to grapple with the reality of the situation that he’s definitely not a $40 million player and so that begs the question how much is Fred worth in order to keep his services here in Houston um again Rockets have all the control here they could just pick up his option and have one more year of Fred Vanble and then they could just revisit the discussion next off seasonason and he wouldn’t you know he’d be an unrestricted free agent at that point they’d have to compete with whatever else is out there on the market but realistically it’s not like the Rockets have to be able to pay anybody else this off season and they could just let the $45 million fall off the books next off seasonason and or again using it as a trade chip uh either this summer or ahead of next NBA trade deadline next season so there are some benefits there to maybe just picking up the option and calling it a day that being said looking at what the likely outcome here is with all the reporting and the the commentary from Eay Udoka and and Rafel Stone and Fred himself right it feels like there’s probably a bit of a long-term marriage at play here between Fred Vanble and the Houston Rockets now originally I believe it was Keith Smith who suggested that the Rockets could regain you know retain Fred on something like a a three-year $60 million contract so he’s making about 20 million a year which feels a lot more in line with what Fred’s actual value is as a player that might be kind of lowballing it though um and in Keith Smith’s original suggestion he said and make you know 45 of that 60 million guaranteed which is essentially what he has guaranteed right now because if the Rockets pick up the team option for next season then he’s guaranteed $44.8 million so he would still get the same amount of guaranteed money just spaced out over more years now maybe that’s something that he wouldn’t be open to maybe you know at that point you know if the Rockets declined the option he’d be like “Well I’m not signing that new contract.” Um Sam Vassini was on his show the other day the Game Theory Pod and suggested something like a three-year 90 to$100 million contract uh that would be declining in value each subsequent year uh I think that’s maybe a little bit steeper than where the Rockets would probably like to be to get Fred Van Vleet you know secured long term and I come away thinking maybe it’s something more in the middle between those two suggestions right you want to keep Fred Van Vleet he’s the only guy on the team that provides what he provides right uh steady ball handling you know can can initiate the offense can get guys where they need to be can settle the troops uh you know Jaylen doesn’t do that as a ball handler amen doesn’t do that yet as a ball handler reed Shepard maybe projects to do that down the line but can’t do it quite just yet so unfortunately Fred’s the only guy with his skill set on this Rockets team currently i feel like if you could get Fred for somewhere in the $75 million range like three years $75 million then you’re talking about approximately 25 million a year give or take maybe maybe you go 7580ish right um but approximately about 25 million a year that feels like to me the max that Fred is ultimately worth at this stage in his career for what he provides um anything north of 30 feels like a distinct overpay for Fred Vanble and then when you start factoring in like you look at the actual state of the Rockets backcourt and if they did ink Fred to a three-year $90 million contract you’re paying a back court of Fred Van Vleet and Jaylen Green $63 million per year that doesn’t feel like a winning strategy at least based on what we’ve seen from a production standpoint from both of those guys to this point both regular season and playoffs combined and so I think the Rockets are going to have to try and play hard ball here with Fred and even though they really appreciate everything that he’s brought to this team even though he’s been an integral part of this team success for the past two years there are some shortcomings to his game he showed some signs of maybe some regression this past season and hopefully that’s something that Rafel Stone and the Rockets front office can use as kind of a you know some leverage as far as these contract negotiations ultimately go but 3 years.75 million seems like kind of the sweet spot for me in my mind for a Fred Vanble contract if he were to stay in Houston but I definitely want your thoughts what What kind of a new contract would you like to see Fred Vanble Vleet get from the Houston Rockets or would you rather just see him you know pick up the team option and play it out one more year and then the Rockets aren’t locked into Fred Van Vleet long term and then maybe they’re able to hand the reigns over to Reed Shepard down the line or maybe Amin Thompson’s ready to run point fulltime uh gives them a little bit more long-term flexibility rather than locking themselves into Fred Van Vleet for multiple years want your thoughts on that in the YouTube comments coming up we’ll talk about Stephen Adams and his contract and why there’s a bit of a concern that the Rockets might actually not be able to retain Steven Adams this off seasonason we’re going to get there in just one moment first today’s episode is brought to you by Wayfair look there’s nothing like stepping into your own 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hassle-free even with larger items there’s no problems with Wayfair head to wayfair.com right now to shop a huge outdoor selection that’s wayfair.com w afir.com wayfair every style every home and continuing on here at Locked on Rockets your daily podcast home for everything Houston Rockets basketball all right let’s talk a little bit about Steven Adams and the potential predicament that the Rockets may be in with their backup center moving forward now look obviously Stephen Adams has become an immediate fan favorite here in Houston watching him and his kind of career renaissance this past season was incredible he is a delight both on and off the court he’s a very important locker room presence for this young Rockets team and his impact on the court was undeniable with Inodoka and company electing to start rolling out the double big lineups late in the season and kind of using it as a crutch to you know I won’t say limp to the finish line but finish off the season strong and then you know utilizing it quite a bit against the Golden State Warriors because that was kind of their their one ace up their sleeve their counter if you will was to go big to try and you know just play bully ball and and crash the glass and and run that zone defense that very uh bizarre zone that you know worked really really well you know for almost a full seven games against the Warriors but uh as much as Rockets fans would love to see Stephen Adams back in a Rockets jersey the issue starts to kind of become how much is too much to pay for Steven Adams how much is too much to pay for a backup center and that’s the hard part that the Houston Rockets are gonna have to juggle because this upcoming season the non-t taxpayer MLE which you know there will be a number of teams that have access to an NMLE that could conceivably be interested in going after a guy like Stephen Adams right who is very much capable of still being a starting quality center in today’s NBA um and then there are teams that are you know completely like they’re in cap hell and they’ve got like zero space but at the end of the day um you know at the end of the day you can move players around you could jettison a player or two and there are like for example like teams like the Lakers right who are in desperate need for a big man now maybe it’s not Stephen Adams because he’s not your uh he’s not a Where’s my button i have my button here oh my god my soundboard went lob threat because Adams isn’t a lob threat which is ideally what you’d like to pair with Luca and LeBron the Lakers still need a starting caliber big man you know they desperately need one and LA could conceivably you know offload a player or two or move some stuff around if they needed to in order to unlock at least the non-taxpayer MLE to be able to pursue a name like Steven Adams to bolster their starting unit if that’s the direction that they ultimately wanted to go or maybe a team like the Grizzlies who you know this past season kind of struggled a little bit at times with Zack Edy as their starting big and maybe they would like to get a reunion with Stephen Adams and maybe he’d like to go back to Memphis there’s no shortage of different teams that could possibly pursue Stephen Adams here something that I heard that you know I’m I’m taking with a little bit of a grain of salt but it it’s still it’s worth noting here is that the Rockets are maybe internally a little worried of being priced out of keeping Stephen Adams now logistically the Rockets can pay Steven Adams whatever they want right they have his bird rights they can go up to whatever amount they want to retain his services um they can outbid pretty much any other team that rolls along unless like a team like Brooklyn Nets with cap space rolls along and gives them like 25 million a year then that’s not happening but um realistically the teams that are going to try to prize Stephen Adams from the Rockets are going to do so with the non- taxpayer MLE which clocks in at about $14.1 million so if you’re the Rockets in order to retain Steven’s services you’re looking at probably something like 15 million a year minimum to keep him here in Houston that’s also not factoring in you know is is Steven Adams content with being a backup behind Alpen Shenon right is he content with only getting 15 to 20 minutes a night maybe 25 a night if the Rockets continue to deploy the double big lineup sporadically throughout the season like who knows right and that’s the hard part when you’re kind of gauging you know what’s going to happen in free agency and where certain players are going to go it’s really hard to kind of weigh some of these other decisions like how much do they prioritize being in a winning environment how much do they prioritize making as much money as possible how much do they prioritize being a starter versus coming off the bench and these are all factors to ultimately consider but if you’re the Rockets you’re looking at at probably absolute minimum like to keep Steo in a Rockets jersey like three years probably $45 million at the bare minimum and that’s assuming you’re not trying to outbid another team that might kind of you know be more competitive in the sense of some of those other ancillary benefits you know if another team is offering him you know three years $14.1 million of non- taxpayer MLE or even up to four years doing that then that might be a harder offer to that you know to combat if you’re the Rockets right if some team comes along and offers Steo the max non- taxpayer MLE so 14.1 a year uh over the next four years are you willing to then sign Stephen Adams to a 4-year 60 plus million deal in order to beat out that offer and that’s where you start to get into some of that gray area of like it feels like yes the Rockets would like to keep Steo feels like maybe he’d like to still be here in Houston but from what I heard right there’s a little bit of a concern that they might get priced out of Steven Adams so much so that the Rockets are actually really heavily considering and looking at both Derek Queen and Kaman Malawatch with that number 10 pick if either one of them slides down to number 10 so that’s something that that came across my radar and absolutely something worth paying attention to here because if the Rockets on draft night select a center with that number 10 overall pick you can almost all but guarantee Steven Adams is no longer going to be in a Houston Rockets jersey um once you know the free agency moratorium opens up and offers start coming out and stuff and that’s the that’s the difficulty here right is you know the Rockets have Alpinon locked up for the next five seasons or four seasons plus a player option and then you know Alp’s making $33 million a year how much are you really comfortable paying a backup center right that’s the hard part is when you’re juggling all these different salaries and figuring out who you’re going to pay who you’re not going to pay when you have to factor in that you know Jabari and Tari are both up for their rookie scale extensions this off seasonason and then you know that next off seasonason you’re going to probably have to give more than likely you’re going to have to give a men Thompson a rookie scale max extension you know one year from now that’s these these numbers start to add up over time and so you do you really want to be on the hook for you know 15 million a year plus to Stephen Adams when conceivably if there is a big man in the draft that you feel pretty good about that can give you 10 to 12 minutes a night of you know backup five minutes and if you’re planning to keep Jabari Smith Jr long term and you can utilize him as a backup five as well it i hate talking about it like this because I would love to see Stephen Adams retire a Houston Rocket honestly he is such a gem of a human being and both his on and off court impact is immeasurable but it is something that’s worth considering and so I leave you with that right i I think I would do it if you could get Stephen Adams for three years $45 million I think that’s a no-brainer if the price has to go up if the price tag increases at any point if it goes up to 17 a.5 or starts creeping up to 20 million if you have to outbid another team like the Lakers or some other team out there that wants to give him the non-ax MLE then I think that’s where you might have to just cut your losses and be like you know what Steo it was a great season we wish you the best but that’s too much to pay for a backup big man so realistically how much would you be willing to pay Stephen Adams if you were Rafel Stone if you were the Houston Rockets front office what kind of a contract would you like to see the Houston Rockets try to strike with him give me your options give me your your pitches in the YouTube comments coming up Houston was listed first in the list of destinations for Kevin Durant as possible trade partners with the Phoenix Suns what that means coming up here in just one moment first today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time look there’s nothing like the NBA playoffs and this NBA Finals has been awesome through two games so far the intensity the buzzer beaters the fans losing their minds it’s the kind of atmosphere you must experience live if you want in game time makes it fast and easy to get seats even for the biggest playoff games prices on the app actually drop closer to tip off and with killer last minute deals panoramic seat views and no surprise fees Game Time is a total gamecher look for me I’ve used game time throughout this season to buy Rockets tickets for the games that I wanted to go to as a fan instead of being there as a media member and it’s awesome right like being there and experiencing the crowds seeing the hype uh being there for the inseason tournament game against the Warriors being there for all of the home games against the Warriors in this uh this most recent Rockets playoff run it was 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sources said mainly feature the Houston Rockets San Antonio Spurs Miami Heat Minnesota Timberl and the New York Knicks several wildcard suitors have made inquiries on Durant in the past 7 to 10 days as well sources said so this is the latest in the KD trade saga and look I know there’s a subsection of Rockets fans that are sick about hearing about KD and but as long as KD is news we got to talk about on the show so these five teams have been have remained the consistent five teams at the top of the KD sweep stakes um now I will say that of these five teams I think it’s very clear that the Rockets and Spurs have the best possible offers to make for Kevin Durant although the Knicks have a sneaky good option to potentially pursue KD uh and we’ll talk about that more in just a second but I think it’s always worth noting right this time of year it’s very important to pay attention to where these leaks are coming from where these sources are being uh provided and when you look at the the language and the terminology on this one uh Kevin Durant’s business partner boardroom CEO Rich Kimman like that language is very clearly coming out of Kevin Durant’s camp that’s coming out of his circle that’s coming straight from the horse’s mouth right so this isn’t this isn’t a team leaking this isn’t the Suns leaking this this is Kevin Durant basically saying these are the teams that I would like to go to these are the teams that I am most interested in joining in order to you know still compete at the highest of levels yada yada yada whatever um which honestly not a bad short list of teams like you go back to I’m trying to think of like like the Damen Lillard saga with the Portland Trailblazers right and how every it was all eyes on Miami and and Portland and Miami were in this like stalemate where just Dame only wanted Miami and Miami refused to put their best offer on the table so Portland was like “Well we’re not budging.” And then after like months of this like Mexican standoff they finally like Dame finally opened it up was like “Okay maybe how about Milwaukee too?” And then and then they were able to strike a deal and figure things out and they were able to send Dame to Milwaukee and it worked out um so well worked out you know loosely worked out i’m saying worked out like the trade happened i’m not saying that it was successful because Dame and Giannis haven’t had much success in their time together in Milwaukee but I digress the point here being that I think it’s very clear that you can look at this reporting and understand that this is very clearly the short list of teams that KD specifically has interest in playing for and we know that in the past the Rockets have been very intrigued by the by the thought of going after Kevin Durant we know that internally there are a lot of connections that KD has to this Houston Rockets organization so then the idea starts to become okay well this is KD’s short list and if if he’s cool with any of these five teams then you start having to look at it from a Phoenix Suns perspective and getting into okay well what do the Suns want out of a Kevin Durant trade and this is where I think there’s a very interesting wrinkle that’s being thrown in here with the Knicks being reported as a possible suitor i’m not saying this is the smart or right decision for the Phoenix Suns but if the Suns are hellbent on staying competitive like they don’t want to trade Deon Booker they’re stuck with Beal so like you got to do whatever you can with Beal um if they are hellbent on retooling quote unquote around Devin Booker and trying to remain competitive then their best possible avenue for achieving that isn’t the Rockets possible trade package for KD which is frankly chump change because that’s all the Rockets were willing to give up to get Kevin right they’re not going to give them multiple young prospects they’re not going to give them multiple of their own picks back and even if they do the Suns don’t want to bottom out so getting their own picks back doesn’t matter if you’re not willing to tank quite possibly the best return for KD at this point is probably Carl Anthony Towns from the Knicks right and Towns is already a clunky fit in New York like the Knicks made that trade because it would help them match up better with Boston which it did ultimately um but you know especially with New York looking for a new head coach more more on that in a second with the Rockets basically telling them no uh about Emodoka but I I very much see a reality where New York and Phoenix could basically do a cat for KD swap and first off Cat and Devin Booker are like longtime close friends right they like they play like Call of Duty together and they like they hang out outside of the game all the time and that’d be like a cool like fun storyline and and that would probably be the best case scenario for Phoenix if you are if you are if your goal is simply to win with Devin Booker and you want to like you want to give him the contract extension you don’t want to trade him you’re not looking to tear things down then flipping KD into Carlen Towns and giving Booker you know Cat as a as a you know running mate as a big man partner ner and then putting the right pieces around those two guys you’d still have a lot of hurdles to get over because you still have a very flawed roster outside of those two guys and you still have to figure out the be situation and that’s going to be you know a mess until his contract expires or if you’re able to if you’re able to trade him well no trade clause never mind that’s not happening point is feels like the Rockets could potentially be out of the running for the KD sweep stakes simply just because I don’t think the Rockets are willing to put up a better offer than Carl Anthony Towns not not an offer that matches with what the Phoenix Suns at least have said publicly their goal is regarding the future of their franchise now if Phoenix looked like they were willing and ready to tear things down and tank for a couple years whatever then yeah the Rockets would be right at the front of the line looking for either Devin Booker or Kevin Durant in a return package because then you get to cash in on the Phoenix picks and all this other stuff so I think that it’s very important to kind of again consider where these sources are coming from and then looking at those five teams that short list of teams maybe the Spurs be able to put together a really enticing package that’d be too hard to pass up on but I can’t I can’t see the Spurs willing to put up like the number two pick or or Steph Castle or anything like that for Kevin Durant the Spurs package for KD would probably be very similar to the Rockets where they’re willing to put in like a little bit of draft capital and like some salary filler here and there but everybody knows that KD wants out so the Rockets the Spurs the Heat they’re not going to bid against themselves right and and overpay for Kevin Durant at this point um again kind of feels like the Knicks have the best offer there for KD so just wanted to highlight that and that most recent uh bit of reporting from Shams now I will say very quickly as we’re wrapping up the show couple other points to hit on uh the Rockets did formally deny the Knicks request to interview uh Eme Udoka because they the Knicks were just running around trying to poach existing head coaches like they they wanted to go first it was it was Jason Kidd and Eay Udoka with the Mavericks and Rockets then it was Chris Finch with the Wolves and it’s like I I I don’t know if if the Knicks realize that they’re allowed to go hire a head coach that’s not currently employed by another organization um but and apparently right Stephen A smith you know was was on air when he was like and and I mean I said it the other day too i got a text about it so like it’s it’s funny because they’re basically just like it’s not happening um and so yeah like the the I just think it’s funny that the Knicks are like doing this whole song and dance when they’re probably they’re I don’t know i don’t know who they’re going to wind up with probably Michael Malone honestly all things considered um that feels like a perfect match for New York but I digress um and then final thing here just a little bit of cool fun news the Rockets are bringing back the Dunksut jerseys next season a lot of fans were really sad to see those jerseys go away this past year i was really disappointed to see them not bring them back honestly I loved the Dunksteraut so much i feel like it should honestly become the team’s primary logo if they could get away with it i don’t know what bureaucratic red tape the Rockets would have to jump through to make the Dunkstronaut their primary logo and and could could you imagine the Dunkstronaut in like different colorways like could you imagine the Dunkot i know it looks really good in like the kind of the red white blue color way that it’s got going on right now but could you imagine the Dunksteraut in like a red and black color way or like the ketchup and mustard color way like oh my god it would be so cool and it’s just it’s a little bit better than like the really tired like R logo that’s been around for a while now like we we’ve heard for years now it feels like the Rockets need uh you know a refresh as far as their logo their team identity and especially with this being like kind of this new iteration of the team it almost feels like a perfect time for a Rockets rebrand and so while I don’t think it’ll happen as soon as this offseason or next year or whatever but maybe with the success if they bring the Dunks back and they’re really you know they really like them again next year then maybe that’s enough of a push in the right direction for them to consider even if it’s not fully just a dunk knot but a full kind of logo rebrand and all that good stuff and look all and I I think I speak for a lot of Rocket fans maybe all Rocket fans when I say just please bring back the ketchup and mustard jerseys they’re so like I I’ve got I’ve got them hanging in the background they look so clean they’re so nice they’re so unique um I don’t think any other team does a red and yellow like colorway for their jerseys maybe I’m mistaken um but it would give the Rockets a unique look compared to all 29 other teams in the association so with that uh give me your thoughts on the Dunks or not making its uh triumphant return next season uh the Rockets telling the Knicks LOL no the KD stuff the contract stuff for Fred and Steo give me all your thoughts in the YouTube comments remember the best way to help us grow the show is to listen every single day on a podcast platform of your choosing and then like comment subscribe on YouTube but as always thank you so much for watching thank you so much for listening and we look forward to having you back right here at Locked On Rockets your daily podcast home for everything Houston Rockets basketball

Rockets Face TOUGH DECISIONS On VanVleet & Adams | Will Kevin Durant RUMORS Affect Their Plans?

Houston Rockets face crucial decisions on Fred VanVleet and Steven Adams contracts. Will these moves reshape their roster for next season?

Host Jackson Gatlin (@JTGatlin) analyzes potential scenarios for Fred VanVleet’s contract renegotiation and Steven Adams’ future with the team. The discussion covers the Rockets’ interest in Kevin Durant trade possibilities, featuring insights on offers from other teams like the Knicks and Spurs. Gatlin also explores the denied request to interview Ime Udoka and the exciting return of fan-favorite Dunkstronaut jerseys.

Tune in for expert analysis on the Rockets’ offseason strategy and how these decisions could impact their playoff aspirations.

#Rockets #NBA #FredVanVleet #StevenAdams

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