Rockets Salary Cap EXPLAINED After Kevin Durant Trade | Derrick White The MISSING PIECE For Houston?

Rockets Salary Cap EXPLAINED After Kevin Durant Trade | Derrick White The MISSING PIECE For Houston?

on today’s show Houston Rockets salary cap breakdown what’s the best outcome for Fred Van Vleet’s contract situation will the Rockets be able to have access to the mid-level exception to add a little bit more depth to this roster and do they have one more significant trade up their sleeves 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 zero 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 and as always thanks so much for making Lockdown 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 and joining us now is a very special guest founder of the Third Apron podcast and newsletter Yosi Goslin NBA salary cap analyst yosi thank you so much for joining us here on Locked on Rockets to help kind of break down the Rocket salary cap situation in the immediate aftermath of the Kevin Durant trade and still with the uh contract negotiations for Fred Van Vleet on the horizon possible extensions for Jabari Smith Jr Tari East it’s a going to be a busy off seasonason for Rockets yeah uh they already got a lot of the stuff out out of the way as you mentioned or Steven Adams uh the KD trade i still think they have another they might have another like not quite like KD level move but I think they could still have like a pretty big move left in them with their flexibility and the draft picks that they saved so yeah time will tell we’ll see what they end up with if they have anything else up their sleeve certainly an exciting time but we’re going to get into some of that speculation here in just a moment but I want to start first and foremost with just kind of your thoughts on the KD trade itself as kind of an unbiased third party separate from you know any affiliation with the Suns or with the Rockets kind of what’s your evaluation of the deal for both sides and you know cuz you know my takeaway is the Rockets came out like bandits um getting off the Jaylen Green contract adding you know a future Hall of Famer and KD what’s your read on that deal and how it went down as far if if you’re looking at the price in terms of what yeah what they gave up and also relative to what the Suns originally gave up to get KD two years ago yeah that’s a very low cost to pay to bring in uh top I’m a little lower on how where he sacks in the league now with age i would say he’s like top 20 to maybe 25 you know maybe he is maybe is a little higher uh but I you know I always got to assume for a little bit of regression um as far as like the fit and what they’re going for yes I really like it another big wing to help keep the Rockets the def defensive rating at the top this shouldn’t take away from their defense you know losing Dylan Brooks might but uh they for the most part you know now Jaylen Green’s gone so kind of a balance there um I as far as like you know obviously you can’t really like look into the past but the thing that kind of bothers me is like I think I think the Rockets have done an excellent job uh in the in the years that they have like leading up to this with their drafting and uh asset accumulation uh some of the contracts they gave out like giving Fred that contract which ended at the perfect time and Dylan Brooks that contract aged easily the only thing that kind of like I don’t think anyone’s really talking about because it’s so far from the past the only thing that kind of bothers me is like well you could have taken Evan Moley four years ago and the Rockets would be in like a completely even better like situation and obviously the roster would probably be a lot different then you know there’s a butterfly effect maybe they don’t have the opportunity to select Thompson later but uh so that’s the only kind of it’s not like I know people aren’t don’t really care it’s like in the past but that’s the only thing that kind of bothers me but yeah as far as what the price is the really the only thing they gave up of value in my opinion is the 10th pick i think that Brooks is pretty valuable i I think the Suns could probably get a lot of interest from other teams but yeah Jaylen Green for the most part he was just salary filler so I just think they need to do another move though um because with the way the starting lineup projects I do think they need a little bit more scoring a little bit more shooting uh so I’m curious to see if they have another move left in them and they very well might and we’re going to talk about some of those kind of possible options a little bit later on in the episode but first thing that I want to kind of address here and a lot of people asked for this i went on social media and I I said that we were going to be recording a pod together and you know I had a lot of people submit some questions things that they would like to hear about and one of the o overwhelming responses was is it possible please Yosi if you could kind of dumb it down for everybody how the first and second aprons and kind of collectively like what does it mean to be under the tax over the tax then the two apron levels that we have now a lot of this terminology kind of goes over you know some you know casual fans heads so if we could just walk through it really quickly and get a brief kind of synopsis on what it means that way when we get into some of this terminology here in a moment in regards to Fred Van Vleet’s contract and what the Rockets may do there any possible extension for Kevin Durant the extensions for Jabari and Tari let’s just I’ll let you you’re the professional you’re the pro walk us through it so I guess we’ll start at the top which is and there’s the second apron restrictions but now the Rockets are not going to be able to exceed the second apron because they aggregated to get Kevin Durant’s contract they’re not going to exceed it so the main restrictions that they are currently subjected to are the first apron restrictions so if the trade uh the way they structured is to send out just a little bit more salary than Durant’s uh incoming amount so they are now uh so by doing that they’re allowed to exceed the first apron and uh right now that might be what ends up happening right I I know there’s a reporting that Fred Vanley they’re going to decline Fred Vanble’s contract but assuming that they resign him they they and then you know you still have the Jock Land’s contract you could wave him they have Baron Holiday team option you can decline that they right now you want like operate as if you’re still going to exceed this first apron but in in all likelihood if they don’t have another big move left in them then they’ll probably want to get below the first apron even the tax altogether but right now they structured this trade that if it doesn’t expand and they have a week and a half to expand it uh try to get more teams involved maybe they can bring in another guy um they structured this trade so they could exceed the first apron and stable of the second apron that gives them a little extra about $12 million more to spend to deepen the roster so the restrictions are mainly they have to do 100% match which they did in the Durant trade um they are limited to the 5.7 million tax pyramid level exception instead of the bigger $14 million one but I get the feeling they won’t even want to use the tax pyramid level uh they’re not allowed to trade um and they’re they’re not allowed to use any trade exceptions from the previous season um there’s a couple other ones I think but for the most part it’s it’s mainly those so they wouldn’t be able to increase their payroll in the trade uh they can’t sign and trade for can’t acquire a sign and traded player right is one of them I believe yeah can’t can’t acquire a free agent through sign trade but right now they could technically sign and trade some of their uh free agents to get a player under contract so if they wanted to sign and trade like J Shante Jeff Green so don’t have to trade any of the players under contract they can do that to bring in a player under contract uh right as a while being able to go above the first apron so those are the main restrictions it’s not too bad like they could still aggregate it’s it’s not too bad it’s manageable so they could probably still bring in another guy despite the first stapin restrictions okay fantastic and then so and and going a little bit backtracking here just a moment because there was you know we’ll talk more about the specifics with Fred’s contract here in just a second but you know there was some speculation maybe they do pick up the option right so there there is pretty much in your eyes no scenario in which they will be over the secondary or they can’t be right because they chose to aggregate in order to acquire Kevin Durant correct yeah as long as they do this trade that they’ve agreed to do they are going to be hardcaped to the second apron uh and from what I I don’t now from what I like I think they basically Yeah they they structured where if Fred if they did pick up Fred’s contract then they could still stay below the second apron but obviously they’re I don’t think they plan on doing that it sounds like they’re going to decline it restructure his deal we just saw Kyrie Irving resign about an hour ago with the Mavericks where he declined his option got uh three for 120 um I’ve I get the feeling that’s that’s kind of still around what Fred’s currently making so that might add an uh you know an element of complication to the negotiations where hey this guy just tore his ACL and just got 40 million a year uh why don’t I just keep making 40 million a year we’ll see how that how those negotiations play out you would have hoped they would have agreed to something by now uh but yeah I I my I get the feeling that Rocks are probably pushing for something where he gets where he makes something in the lower $30 million range uh I guess we’ll find out if if sides are close or far apart okay all right and we’ll talk a little bit more too about kind of the you know getting access to the MLE the taxpayer versus the non-t taxpayer MLE that kind of stuff here coming up i do want to get into more on Fred Vanble’s comp Fred Vanble’s contract and the two possible options there maybe picking up the option and what that would look like as well as declining it restructuring it and what an ideal framework for that contract could look like we’re going to get there in just one moment 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customers and continuing on here at Locked on Rockets your daily podcast home for everything Houston Rockets basketball all right Yosi so the the kind of the biggest I guess the next biggest domino for the Rockets this offseason is figuring out this Fred Van Vleet contract we were kind of kicking around some ideas there momentarily at the end of last segment uh about the Rockets options kind of here at this point there has been again mo widely reported the idea that they will decline the option renegotiate a new deal that seems like the kind of foregone conclusion at this point it seems to me though and Mark Stein came out the other day and he said maybe they pick up the option right it’s not said and done yet um if the Rockets were to pick up the option on Fred Vanley Fred Vanble’s contract to me I feel like that signifies that they you know have a trade in mind that they want to use Fred’s contract as kind of a salary ballast for and we talked about that right they have remaining assets they could go after another player maybe that’s the kind of the ace up their sleeve to make one more significant move this off season is there any outcome where they would pick up the contract in your eyes and not then subsequently trade Fan Fred Vanley i can’t wrap my head around that i don’t think that’s a route that they would take i got to agree with you i would have to imagine that’s probably the case where they then I have something else in mind i just can’t envision it heading that direction because if the Rockets want to and you know it’s not nice to say but they could probably play hard ball with Van Vleet where they tell him “Okay well we’re going to decline your contract and this is our offer go try to find something like this elsewhere.” which he wouldn’t be able to do because the only team who can offer uh more than the mid-level in free agency is the Nets uh he could only get more through a signin trade which would require that the Rockets cooperate and which I don’t think they’d be motivated to do and if they do want to trade him as you said yeah having that $44 million salary would be the way to go so no I’m 100% with you i think they only pick it up if there’s a at this point if there is a trade uh ready okay and I I want to revisit that part of the discussion in a second but I’m going to get very hypothetical so I don’t I want to table that for a moment on the flip side of it the more than likely outcome decline the option renegotiate i I’ve seen so many different numbers thrown around for a possible Fred Van Vleet uh you know new deal i settle in between I feel like his the proper value for Fred is somewhere between 25 to 30 million years something like a three-year 90 million at the top end maybe three years 75 at the low end what do you think about that as an evaluation or as evaluation for Fred and his contract i So I did a Rockets mockoff season earlier this month in which I valued him at like three for 90 something like between three 90 to 100 so like low 30s and the reason I went off that is because last year we saw Drew Holidayiday and Rudy Goar sign extensions where they took a 25% pay cut and then extended off that and that’s framework I came up with is essentially the equivalent where Fred takes a 25% cut off the 44 million and then gets like raises so it’ be like 33 35 37 something like that so when I posted that a lot of Rockets fans were like “That’s way too much for Fred Vanley.” And I So I was like “Okay I I could understand there’s some frustration with with uh with him and that uh within the fan base and uh that he’s probably worth a lot less.” And look I I think in some level you if you’re the Rockets you got to you know you kind of have to be fair it’s like again look what Kyrie Irving just got uh if you look around the league yeah Fred’s not an all-star level player that Kyrie ha was like right before the injury but again you look at the Rudy Goar Kyrie Irving example uh you know you kind of have to be fair you don’t want Fred to be upset or disengaged you know give him something if they really wanted to yeah they could probably tell him “Hey here’s two for 50 take it or leave it.” Um I don’t think they want to play it that way i would I would guess they’d give him a little bit more even though the market’s not quite there for him uh and right now with the way things are structured he can get basically what I proposed like three for 90 something it would start him at like 31 million and he could go slightly up like if they do nothing else they just cut like Landale they cut Aaron Holiday they get him back on that contract and then just add couple minimum contracts to stay below the luxury tax then uh all that’s possible at him starting at like 31 million and I think you know there’s got to be a little bit of perspective where the only reason Fred got this 2-year max was because he uh it was the Rockets way to steal him away from the Raptors two years ago uh and the only reason he even has a team option right now is because that was like I guess like like I guess they originally only offered him two for the two-year max and then they put that team option as like a way to to like seal it i I suppose it was it was a it was a win for him and his agent basically to say “Yeah we got a three-year max contract.” And then that third year is a team option so they’re just like “Okay it’s it’s not really you know part of it’s not a guarantee right?” Um and you’re right the loser so sorry go ahead sorry so so basically so basically now Fred’s going to get like around what he’s I guess you know quote unquote supposed to be making or I’d say what he probably was kind of actually worth two years ago making like low30s and then going up yeah that and that seems like a fair valuation i I would say right cuz you know the Rockets certainly paid like the loser tax to steal Fred away from Toronto originally and I do wonder because they’ve had such a positive relationship in the two years that he has been here i do wonder if there’s an understanding on both sides where it’s like okay look we overpaid to get you here in the first place you made way more than you should have made those first two years like now it’s time for you to maybe not give some back and take like a pay cut but you know getting him back down to that 25 to $30 million range which is I I think fair value for what he actually provides to the team seems like the direction that I would expect given all of Felstone’s previous contracts negotiations i mean hell he he held Alper and Shingun Shingun’s feet to the fire last summer during his contract extension negotiations even though you know leaguewide everybody looked at Alper and Shingun as a shoein to get like a a rookie max similar to many of his counterparts in the 2021 NBA draft and instead Refellstone got him on a relatively teamfriendly 5-year I want to say it was like $188 million deal so slightly less than what would have been the true rookie max um even though Shingun absolutely deserved the full rookie max at that point so um doesn’t seem to be any hard feelings there at least that we know of um so maybe maybe similar circumstances possibly for Fred Van Vleet and these negotiations what I wanted to follow up on with this though is you mentioned you know the Rockets potentially staying under the luxury tax um obviously so I know there you know there are things like the repeater tax right being in the luxury tax too many years all that kind of stuff um to me though with the addition of KD and this like two two to threeyear window that they have to be able to compete at the highest level and at least my understanding from talking to you know individuals around the team and and in the building would be that they are very committed to winning at the highest level right now and so I would actually argue that they’re probably not looking to necessarily duck the tax so what would be the number or what would be the outcome here or if it’s even possible for them to renegotiate Fred Van Vleet and then somehow still have access to possibly the non- taxpayer MLE or are they pretty much hamstrung into only having the taxpayer MLE at this point um no no they could still technically have the non- tax mid-level uh they can use it uh I mean I’m looking at my cav sheets really quick let me see is uh I I don’t know if they’d be able to do the full thing i’d have to go over the projection but if they are looking to get him back around that same projection I I gave out uh they cut the other guys and they’re willing to go up to the first apron i think they could use most of it um so maybe not the full 14 maybe like 10 to 12 million something like that uh now let so let’s talk about what you said because the Rockets are by trading for Kevin Durant they’re saying we we’re we’re we we want OKC uh we know they’re about to start this potential dynasty they’re going to be dominant for years to come we think we have a team well equipped uh to take them down and KD helps us get closer to that so I would say that’s what that’s what they that’s the conclusion they came with by doing this trade and I think on some level this team that’s very physical defensive minded kind of are equipped to beat to potentially beat OKC but I don’t think they’re quite there which then go takes me to my favorite scenario that I’ve been pushing like I I’ve said it on my podcast i’ve I’ve written about it i’ve said it on other uh other discussions over the past few days uh I think they need to address the two spot and I think like they scream to me the Derek White team right now um they do they do so bad i’m so glad you brought him up yeah this this was me this was me saving that that extra hypothetical for Fred a moment ago so yes please let’s get into the Derrick White discussion yeah so look we just saw the Celtics they traded Drew Holiday last night uh they traded Christoff Porzingis they saved uh on my projections over $200 million in tax almost 250 they they basically cut their expenses in half just by those two trades they don’t need to trade Derek White uh they’re like very they’re getting like if they want to duck the tax altogether they can get there without trading Derek White they can do some other moves which means it’s going to probably take a somewhat of an overpay for them to even consider trading him which I think there is a price that if met the Celtics would probably accept probably might require some of these Suns picks i’m curious to know like what is like the line you would have in these negotiations as far as like the draft equity what would be well can I ask what your original framework was would be for a Derek White trade at this current juncture because that’s the other thing is wi with the I I was you know seeing the the Porzingis trade broke you know a few hours before we sat down to record this podcast I was really hoping to get into the idea of man okay the the Celtics they’re in that second apron territory they need to shed some salary Derek White where you at like but now it doesn’t seem like they’re going to the onus isn’t going to be as um I guess the pressure is not going to be as high for them to duck the hacks or anything so at this point um yeah what what’s what’s your what’s your framework and let’s go from there so this is where the first apron stuff comes into play and some of those minations I threw out you where they can sign and trade some of their free agents to inflate their outgoing salary uh think about what the Wolves uh the Knicks did last year they signed and traded a bunch of guys so they can make up $8 million they needed to do a 100% match that let them go all the way up until the all the way up to the second apron exactly so I’m proposing why don’t the Rockets could basically do the same thing like okay how about they keep all their core players uh so all your so that means you’re you’re keeping uh KD Changun Adams Jabari Reed Amen Tari like all of them and then you are uh you know you have Jock Landale you got Aaron Holiday you pick them up their options up uh you can include I mean you could even potentially keep Cam Whitmore that might be a little difficult squeeze but the point is you’re keeping all most of your top guys and then to get to the like the 100% match Derek White will make like 27 mil you may you include like Jeff Green or uh J Seawn Tate in the signing trade to get those numbers up to to get that match now that’d be like a more complicated trade that will involve multiple teams because the Celtics still right now can’t take back guys in a signing trade but that’s essentially the framework where I if the Rockets leave the roster as is I think they’ll try to duck the tax i know that you know a lot of fans might not be happy with that but as far as trying to extend their window and albe it it’s it’s going to be a pretty short window because KD’s 37 if you could if you could not pay the luxury tax practically speaking it just delay just delay doing that because then you start your repeater clock the point is you want to try to have to extend your window delay you know you want to start the repeater stuff later or delay the stuff as much as pos possible but if they can get a guy like Derek White which would require them to go up into the second apron go above the first apron like moderately into the tax I think that’s the type of scenario that would make maximizing their spending worth it you know that wow i mean getting Derek adding Derrick White to this team without giving up essentially any of the any of the core you know eight or nineman roster and just just bolstering it even further would be almost a dream come true the the three assets right there that are the most valuable draft assets that the Rockets own would be the 27 Suns pick the 27 Nets swap I believe off top of my head yeah um and then the 29 Suns pick um I feel like if you could get Derek White without giving up any of the core I feel like you’d have to be willing to include at least two of those three assets um and in order to compete in this window right if if they really wanted to go all full steam ahead I think you’d have to consider doing it if Boston was willing to bite at that at that offer um because the reality of the matter is you know two years from now the Rockets are still going to have their young core in place they’re going to have Shingun Amin Jabari Tari you know assuming they’re able to keep all these you know all these guys together and are they really going to have the room essentially to add another top prospect with one of those selections um or would that essentially just be more trade fodder down the line not fodder but like you know would it be something that they utilize to add a a win now piece to a core of young players that are then at that point in time two years from now more or less hitting their stride hitting their primes ready to start competing or continue competing at the highest level you know in the aftermath whatever you know whenever KD decides to hang them up or or potentially transition into a significantly lesser role with the team whatever that ultimately looks like um I feel like if you could give yourself a a better shot to win now during this window as well as look Derrick White he’s only what 30 31 I think um he’s you know he should age pretty well too and he’s not going to be you know an over he won’t be over the hill or anything by any stretch of the imagination you know two years from now so I don’t know that’s that’s a tough one it’s an interesting dynamic and the idea of being able to get him without I thought we were going to get into this whole idea of like Fred Van Vleet optin and trade him and use him as like the salary ballast to be able to get a guy like Derek White um I will hit you i think they gota I think they got to team him up i teaming him up would be interesting and then you but then you you you go back you know Jabarius Jr back off the bench Men Thompson at the three uh KD at the four shen I mean that would give it’s certainly an intriguing option i’m going to hit you with one more super far out there hypothetical just because Rockets fans have been clamoring for this a subsection of them have uh and then we’ll move on to final segment but before we move on oh you got more for me no no i’ll just say cuz we’re talking about like the negotiation aspect of like what what that would be uh-huh i got uh me and uh you know my a friend of the of my podcast Sam Quinn we got really into it and he landed on well no trading two of those three assets would be an overpay because Dererick White is 30 and he’s not an all-star if you’re trading those you want like an actual star and I understand that but that kind of like comes down to the point of this exercise where the Rockets a guy like Derek White might be the best guy they can get they’ve definitely uh came to that conclusion with KD they decided not to wait around on Giannis so in a way yeah I agree that is kind of an overpaid trading two of those assets for a 30-year-old non-allar but when you I I think after making the KD trade it just comes back to that they decided to expedite the window for right now you don’t trade for a 37year-old all uh 37year-old star if you’re not trying to win the championship this year so I do think they need to go somewhat more in i don’t I wouldn’t cuz if you’re trading a couple of those picks you might Yeah you can argue it’s an overpay but it’s not all your picks you still have all your young talent so that’s where I fall on why that’s just my like the argument for the case of doing it so you’re you’re right but I also think the uniqueness of the KD trade right is that they didn’t right they didn’t mortgage their future they got KD for like pennies on the dollar he was so cheap um you know relative to what he should you know on paper add to this team and so you know that was my that was my whole argument in the months leading up to the KD trade is like you make the trade because you’re not mortgaging your future for a 37y old you’re you’re you’re getting off of a a you know bad contract in Jaylen Green yes a a you know topend role player in Dylan Brooks and then the number 10 overall pick that you didn’t even have space for if you made the selection in this year’s draft like you already have guys buried on your bench like Reed Shepard and Cam Whitmore i think the most that I’d probably go for that Derrick White deal i think I’m the more that I’m thinking about it two of those picks is very steep i would say best offer on the table would be whichever pick they would whichever pick Boston would deem to be better out of the Suns or the Nets pick in 27 would be on the table and then throw in Cam Whitmore and then that that’s your like that’s your you can get Derek like that would be my best offer if I’m putting on you know the the Rafll GM hat for Houston and then I would leave it at that because keeping those two assets as well as the Rockets own future picks past that is what gives them the opportunity in po potential postKD era to have enough ammunition to go get another star player if they feel they need one you know com you know um consolidating some of the young talent potentially that’s still left on the roster uh plus some of those really juicy future draft assets and then going and getting a guy like well I’m not gonna say Giannis because by then Giannis will be 33 34 but who right whoever right whoever’s in that that 28 to 30 year old range that could potentially then you know replace KD you know on the team or or take that team over the you know to the next level um maybe slotting as the second or third best player behind potentially a Min Thompson Alper and Chingu depending on what their continued development ultimately looks like um coming up I do want to hit you with my with my far out there hypothetical one that Rockets fans desperately want to hear about uh we’re going to get to that we’ll also talk about the possible extensions for Jabarisma Jr tar Een as well as KD’s possible extension and the fact that he might reportedly be willing to give back a little bit of money take a bit of a pay cut we’ll 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 outdoor space and feeling like you’ve escaped to a personal oasis if you’re wanting to update your patio this season Wayfair has made it so easy to turn it into a space that feels like yours comfortable stylish and ready for summer wayfair has everything that you need to level up your outdoor space conversation sets outdoor bars fire pits hot tubs gazeos and even the perfect string lights to set the vibe it’s like giving your backyard that resort feel without the resort price tag look my girlfriend and I we love spending time outside we just added a few more lounge chairs outdoor 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get and then you’d have to obviously you’d have to include more but to then go get James Harden and reunite James Harden and Kevin Durant in Houston the Rockets fans have an obsession with wanting to bring James Harden back it was an option a couple years ago in and instead of bringing James Harden back put his foot on the floor and said no I don’t want James and he not you know any slight to James he just didn’t think it was the right fit at the time they had a younger team they weren’t really ready to win at the highest of levels um thoughts on the idea of of basically picking up that option for Fred James Harden agrees to pick up his player option right and then you try to orchestrate a trade between the two two organizations probably would need a little bit of tampering under the table to come to make to make it work to figure out what that would ultimately look like because James is only making $36.3 million on his contract Fred would be making 44.8 um but you know if James is like “Hey I’ll I’ll walk in free agency or whatever.” Not that there’s really a team that he has a chance to walk to uh thoughts on that I that that hypothetical it’s pretty far out there i Wow I did not consider that i I would probably I’d probably stay away from that if I’m the Rockets i I think they got to I think if you’re going to trade Fred like I I think you got to get like another like obviously Drew Holidayiday’s off the board you I think you still need like a defensive first guard if you’re going to trade Fred yeah I think for for even even though we just talked about the Rockets needing you know more firepower you know better offense James Harden doesn’t feel like the answer at 35 years old um he’ll be 36 at some point next season uh just you know and James is still playing at a very very high level but you’re right like the only reason the Clippers worked as well as they did this past year is they put a tremendous defensive lineup around James Harden because he he is unfortunately a defensive liability he’s not the guy you want at the point of attack he’s not going to be the guy you know spearheading a top five defense unless you have four significantly plus defenders all positioned around him um pretty much at all times and so especially you know if you’re slotting him in in place of Fred Van Vleet I I just I don’t know what that does and then that locker room dynamic between him and KD for the maybe the third time in their career i I don’t know i don’t know if that’s the right direction for this franchise to ultimately go so all right i just wanted to to knock that one out really quickly and there’s one other one here that I I feel like I don’t even I feel like I shouldn’t even bother you but since we’re talking about it in the confines of the kind of Rocket salary cap breakdown episode Rockets fans really want Quinton Grimes it’s not going to happen guys it’s they’re not going to get Quinton Grimes the 76ers aren’t going to let him go he’s a restricted free agent he can make up to like what what’s his like base year it’s like it’s like 22 and a.5 million or something well that the the tougher issue is that uh if they’re going to sign it they can’t sign a trade for firm without staying below the first apron which yeah they you know they might be able to do that uh depending what happens with Fred but at the same time um I don’t know if they could they can’t give him that full amount which means they probably wouldn’t be able to get him so uh I like the fit i like the idea but just with all those factors in mind I would be I I’d be very surprised if they’re able to pull that off okay all right fair enough i mean I it’s it’s it’s one of those ones where it sounds great and again I do like the fit in theory all that good stuff but it doesn’t feel very feasible at at this point um one thing that I definitely wanted to have you you know illuminate for us here is is Kevin Durant you know the the understanding was whatever team you know won the KD sweep stakes assuming it was one of his preferred destinations quote unquote um would be in line to ink him to a contract extension worth up to two years and like $121 millionish um now we did get a report the other day from Shams that that KD might be willing to take a little bit less than his uh potential max in order to help facilitate things here in Houston to be able to make sure that you know the Rockets are able to put you know the best contending team around him now that doesn’t necessarily help things for this upcoming season because he can’t take less than what is you know currently on his uh on the final year of his deal but for the subsequent years I wanted your insight on how that first off how the over 38 rule functions and how that would impact any potential negotiations with KD um on whatever an extension would look like here in Houston if he were to give back some money but potentially get more years like how would that all function so the all the over 38 does is make it difficult to make a contract for a 38-year-old that’s more than three years in total including the third year that’s why he can really only get a 2-year extension now the extend and trade rules have been changed where it used to be a much shorter uh starting salary on the first year of an extension uh and that that can also be traded they they increased it so Kevin Durant’s not really given up any money by waiting 6 months he he could it’s like a $2 million difference if he extends now on the max versus the max he can get later i if I had to guess I think Kevin Durant takes somewhat of a discount uh I’m not talking about like you know t taking half or anything like that but you know let’s say he just gives back somewhere between 10 to 14 million uh you know off the max that’s like the full mid-level right there that’s like a whole rotation player right there so I think at this stage in his career I think it’s worth weighing sacrificing just like a little bit uh to help this team be as strong as possible uh over the next uh three years that would be because that’s you know if he extends it’s for two years and when you start taking a look at a little bit further down the road right so the KD extension possibly um they’ve already got Alporn and Shening good on the books for the next 5 years because of his extension that they inked last last summer Um the two next guys due for their extensions are both Jabari Smith Jr and Tari Een and there was a little bit of reporting earlier in the offseason that the Rockets might be inclined to just let both of those guys get to restricted free agency next summer but with with teams floating out there like potentially like the Washington Wizards with like I think they’re projected to have what like north of like hund00 million in salary next off seasonason or something like ridiculous like that um potentially other teams as well what would be how would you evaluate kind of the the idea of trying to sign them now versus letting them kind of test the waters of restricted free agency and seeing if a team comes along and offers them a deal that obviously the Rockets would be allowed to match in restricted free agency um but kind of weighing the the risk versus the benefits there so before the Kevin Durant trade I would have thought that there’s they would have probably tried to extend one of those guys now with the uncertainty of what Durant’s contract is I wonder if that kind of delays that a little bit uh you know I think the value the biggest value in keeping Jabari is now he gets to play next to Durant who’s obviously like that he’s not going to be Kevin Durant but they have they share a lot of attributes like there’s a lot of there are some parallels in terms of their archetype so I think they’re hoping by that maybe there’s like a hope that by playing next to him he can find his role and be more impactful so I obviously by keeping him by prioritizing keeping him they still believe in him so maybe there is an extension to be done but it would probably have to be pretty team friendly uh like if you like there’s a max contract and then there’s like what guys like Trey Murphy got Jayen Suggs at like 30 million a year i would guess Jabari tries to push for something like that or the Rockets comfortable committing to that right now i would think probably not especially if they do end up making another big move so I’m sure they’re going to hold they’ll negotiate they’ll hold certain lines for now i think though just there’s just so many variables going on right now that most likely the Rockets uh they can that neither side could come to an agreement and these guys end up becoming restricted free agents yeah i I just and I I was using the wizards off the top of my head because I saw somebody and I I don’t know if this is accurate and I should have fact checked myself before talking about it but um in your projections do you have like a rough approximation for the teams next summer that might have some salary cap room to throw at a guy like a Jabari or Atari that that could be um kind of you know competition for the Rockets to have to come along and and match a deal like a you know 25 to $30 million a year contract for one of those two guys so I look off the top of my head like the Lakers the Clippers right now but like seems like that it could change in the next week like they sign some guys trade for some guys that are under contract past next season it goes away so right now the early very early indication there should be more cap space teams but just so many players can extend sign big contracts that that could easily change uh within a week so all I can say is time will tell on that one mhm no that’s that that’s totally fair it’s and it’s one of those where they’re not you know unfortunately right and this is not a disservice to them they’re not the star players they’re they’re not the priority to resign an Inc especially when you know like you know all signs are pointing to the fact that you will further down the line have to consider you know a rookie rookie scale max extension for Amen Thompson under the under the idea that he will likely command that depending on what kind of a leap he takes in year three but given his exponential growth across the first two season of his career it’s all signs are pointing towards the fact that he will likely command that max and then that’ll be another factor to consider on the Rockets um spreadsheet a little a little bit further down the line right yeah and I think that’s factored into their willingness to trade Dylan Brooks right now was that once Amen gets paid then yeah you can’t really that’s it you know you’re not going to want to you’re not going to be able to pay Brook so that’s a whole another element that yeah it’s two years from now uh that will probably also factor into uh these negotiations with Tari and Jabari yeah i mean and the good news is the Rockets have I at least my personal opinion and I think this is kind of a a widely held belief they have a pretty solid front office when it comes to making you know pretty solid you know contractual decisions and and you know kind of a framework laid out by Rafllstone Eli Whites and company as far as kind of mapping things out for years to come and how they you know plan their financial road maps all that good stuff um one thing that I didn’t pick your brain about and I’m curious your thoughts and we will be revisiting this in a future episode just kind of looking ahead at at potential you know free agency preview that kind of stuff um but assuming if the Rockets are able to you know get some version of the MLE you know access to it be it the taxpayer MLE or potentially some maybe not all of but some of the non-taxpayer MLE um shooting is still one of the biggest areas of need for this Rockets team um I’ve kicked around a few names in my head are there any names that you can think of off the top of your head that you would think would be a solid fit in Houston and potentially available to be swiped up for that you know MLE maybe not the full amount but somewhere in that 10 to12 million range yeah I’m looking at the list right now and to be honest I I hadn’t put too much thought into it because my base assumptions that they’re going to try not to use the mid level uh because they’re going to ju just because there’s just so much variability in keeping everyone the KV trade maybe there’s another guy you know like for example let’s actually and I I do apologize remind me really quickly there there is an outcome where they can get the midle without entering the tax or if they use the mid level they will likely be in the in the tax therefore starting that repeater clock a little bit earlier than they might want right um if they are in the Yeah they use like most of it they they’ll probably get into attack just below the first aper so that’s another thing but I I think it’s just more so about like this is not the strongest class of free agents uh not a lot of shooters out there like you could try to get Tai Jerome you can try to get um Luke Canard was one name um yeah it’s not I I think they have a better chance of maybe using the exception at the trade exception to bring in someone so that just then I just kind of go back to I think they’re just better off keeping the flexibility to potentially make the types of trades that we discussed where okay you’re not signing a free agent but instead you’re using that flexibility that would go up into the apron to bring in a real difference maker okay that make that makes a great deal of sense especially some of the different options that we discussed with the uh the b the the sign and trade the sign and trade all the all the dregs of the roster for Derek White is certainly one that’ll get Rockets fans riled up you probably won some points with that suggestion um Yosi it’s been absolutely fantastic having you here for this breakdown let everybody know where they can track you down at to see all your fantastic work you guys can follow me on Twitter and Blue Sky my name Yosi Goslin i am instantly breaking down all the transactions with salary cap analysis uh I’ve been on it today make sure you’re subscribed to Third Apron uh wherever you get your podcast i’m doing a lot of live streams to keep up with everything and reacting um I’m going and also the newsletter on on Substack where I do more deeper salary cap analysis that’s going to do it for another edition of Locked on Rockets as always thanks so much for checking out the show 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 we look forward to having you back right here at Locked on Rockets your daily podcast home for everything Houston Rockets basketball

Rockets Salary Cap EXPLAINED After Kevin Durant Trade | Derrick White The MISSING PIECE For Houston?

Kevin Durant’s arrival reshapes the HOUSTON ROCKETS’ financial landscape. How will this blockbuster trade affect Fred VanVleet’s contract negotiations and the team’s roster-building strategy? Host Jackson Gatlin (@JTGatlin) is joined by Yossi Gozlan (@YossiGozlan), NBA Salary Cap Analyst and Founder of the Third Apron Podcast & Newsletter, to break down the intricacies of the Rockets’ cap situation, exploring potential extensions for Jabari Smith Jr. and Tari Eason. The discussion dives into creative trade scenarios, including a possible move for Celtics guard Derrick White to bolster the backcourt. With the salary cap tightening, can the Rockets navigate these financial waters to build a contender around their new superstar?

Tune in for expert analysis on how Houston can maximize its roster potential while managing complex cap constraints.

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