July 6: The signing is official, according to the team’s website.
July 1: Zhou’s deal with the Rockets will indeed be a four-year pact, his agent tells Feigen (Twitter link). That means Houston will dip into its mid-level exception to get it done. The length of the agreement was first reported by David Pick, as noted below.
12:01pm: The Rockets will bring 2016 second-round pick Zhou Qi stateside for the upcoming season, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, who reports that the team will sign the Chinese center to a multiyear contract. The deal has not yet been finalized, with the structure still undergoing some “final touches,” per Wojnarowski.
Zhou, the 43rd overall pick in the 2016 draft, reportedly remained under contract with China’s Xinjiang Flying Tigers for another four years, but had an NBA out clause believed to be worth $650K, opening the door for him to join the Rockets. The 21-year-old is a promising prospect capable of protecting the rim and stretching the floor a little.
The details of Zhou’s new deal with the Rockets may ultimately hinge on what else Houston does in free agency. The over-the-cap club currently has the mid-level ($8.4MM) and bi-annual ($3.3MM) exceptions at its disposal, and could always sign players using the minimum salary.
As Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle noted earlier this week, the Rockets would like Zhou’s deal to span at least three years, but would have to use a portion of the MLE to make that happen — the bi-annual exception and the minimum salary exception limit deals to two years.
According to international reporter David Pick (via Twitter), Zhou’s new deal is expected to run through the 2020/21 season. That would make it a four-year contract, meaning Houston would have to use some of its MLE to complete the signing.