The Rockets made forward Tari Eason a “strong” contract offer prior to Monday’s deadline for rookie scale extensions, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported on the latest episode of the Hoop Collective podcast (YouTube link).
“From what I understand…it was in excess of $100MM,” Windhorst said. “I don’t know how much of it would have been guaranteed.”
When he reported on Monday that the Rockets and Eason had failed to come to terms on an agreement, Windhorst’s ESPN colleague Shams Charania wrote that the two sides were unable to bridge the gap in their negotiations “on multiple fronts.” That report, along with Windhorst’s comment, could signal that Eason and his camp weren’t satisfied with the amount of guaranteed money in Houston’s proposal.
Each of the nine players who ultimately signed rookie scale extensions in 2025 received fully guaranteed deals.
Here’s more on the Rockets:
- Entering the 2025 offseason after their first-round loss to Golden State, the Rockets’ front office wasn’t “trying to move guys,” general manager Rafael Stone told ESPN’s Michael C. Wright. However, Stone and the Rockets ended up pulling the trigger on a trade for Kevin Durant because they felt the opportunity was too good to pass up. “Jalen (Green) and Dillon (Brooks), we love those guys,” Stone said. “Everybody does. Not a single person on this team felt they needed to be moved out. And you’re never trying to give away the 10th pick of the draft because that’s still a really good player. We did it because of the opportunity. Kevin’s a very unique player. His archetype is unique. He’s this high-volume efficient scorer who doesn’t have to have the ball in his hands 24-7. In that sense, he’s kind of a unicorn. He’s also a two-way player. There just aren’t a whole lot of Kevin Durants. We’ll just have to see how he ultimately fits.”
- Durant’s first game with the Rockets was a nail-biting double-overtime 125-124 loss to the defending champion Thunder. Durant, who missed a free throw late in regulation and then fouled out with 11 second left in the second overtime period, put the blame on himself after the game, according to Wright. “I missed the free throws, and I fouled somebody at the end,” the star forward said. “I think those two plays are the reason we lost. … I’ve got to be better.” Durant was also in the middle of a near-disaster at the end of the first overtime, when he called for a timeout the Rockets didn’t have — he wasn’t called for a technical foul because the referees didn’t see his signal, crew chief Zach Zarba later explained.
- While Durant’s Rockets debut didn’t end in a win, Alperen Sengun‘s performance in defeat was an extremely encouraging sign for the team, as William Guillory of The Athletic and Danielle Lerner of The Houston Chronicle (subscription required) write. On the heels of an impressive EuroBasket performance for the Turkish national team, Sengun posted a monster line of 39 points, 11 rebounds, and seven assists vs. Oklahoma City and showed that Houston won’t always have to lean on Durant for half-court scoring. “He was kind of the backbone of our offense tonight,” forward Josh Okogie said of Sengun, per Lerner.
- Although the trade for Durant was a win-now move for the Rockets, the rest of their core is still so young that they place just 21st in the “now or later” rankings compiled by ESPN’s Zach Kram. As Kram explains, the teams at the top of his list are the most desperate to win right away, while the clubs near the bottom are the most content to win later.
Rockets gave away the game. They need to play better defense down the end of the game
Agreed, but it also doesn’t help that they let SGA push off on every drive and let Hartenstein push and go over the back on every rebound opportunity. I’ve been saying this since last season. Regardless at the end the Rockets had the chance and couldn’t pull it off. 81 more to go.
Whiplash, if you’re a fan of the Rockets, there’s no worries at all. They’ll be there at the end.
They are a very good team. They’re young and hungry, Well coached, improved the roster, and now have some experience under their belts.
Rockets future looking good in the short term and the long-term.
Lol, the Rockets got the better whistle all game.
Reed Sheppard can’t guard his own shadow. He’s going to be unplayable at his size. And it wasn’t like the starters were torching him, even bench guys took him straight to the basket.
Sheppard is going to be a bust. If they had Vanfleet the win in regulation. I see them making a trade in a few weeks for a vet that has handles. Segun is horrible dribbling up court. Thompson can handle the ball but once he went down it hurt.
Ayo is calling on line 1. :-)
Give us a 1st.
To be fair, even I could take Redd Sheppard to the basket
Eason is the type of guy I would want next year on the Bulls. Plays hard and plays tough defense and is a wing defender. We got bums out there pretending they are the next Kawhi or Jimmy making max RFA money, so what’s one more, right?
Seriously, Eason would fit with the timeline from AKME.
KD’s 0-4 on threes didn’t help either.
Amen 0-7, Reed 2-7, Jabari 2-6, Okogie 1-3, the only guy hitting was Sengun at 5-8
“FUGLY”
Honestly, none of them except for KD are realiable consistent shooters
This team really lacks shooting (and a point guard). They will really miss FVV.
Sengun looks like he could be significantly improved over last season.
And you can’t really judge based on 1 game vs the Bad Boys Thunder defense.
If Katie will ever get off social media, he might become a reliable winner, instead of losing his focus time after time
KD’s TO dribbling the ball off his foot was a good example.
Rox hold that early L….
That was a high-level game. Houston looked really solid without “a real PG” against that tough OKC team.
Yes, Amen wasn’t very smooth on the ball and often lacked ideas in half-court, but he was giving his team a lot elsewhere. Defended Shai very well for 3 quarters, and just generally made Houston hard to play against.
I’ve seen “real PGs” like Trae or Schroeder or Murray get absolutely smoked by OKC’s press. Amen did fine.
But didn’t Houston have a foul to give in that last possession by OKC in regulation? I think they did, and Amen didn’t know about it. Could have fouled Shai on the ground.
I felt like Udoka outsmarted himself a little in that game. He had a lot of guys who do well 1v1, but he kept calling doubles that OKC were beating more often than not. Also, his team didn’t appear to have clear ideas in certain moments; OKC seemed more like they knew what they were going to do.