NBA experience: 11 years eight All-Star selections, 2017-18 MVPĢ019-20 statistics: 34.3 points, 7.5 assists, 6.6 rebounds per game ( Editor’s note: Salary figures are from the HoopsHype database, while NBA experience, statistics, and personal data are from NBA.com.) Led by Harden, here’s how the 2020-21 roster currently stacks up. But at the moment, Stone and the Rockets have suggested that they’re willing to push forward with Harden and delay any trade until the proposals are to their liking. With franchise icon James Harden having requested a trade in the offseason, Houston could potentially find itself with plenty of room beneath the hard cap, if they shed his team-leading salary of $41.3 million. That’s all if the Rockets stay the course, though.
As a result, first-year Rockets GM Rafael Stone will have an intricate dance to perform in the upcoming season to manage the payroll of Houston’s roster. After the sign-and-trade acquisition of Christian Wood in the 2020 offseason, Houston is subject to a hard salary cap at the luxury tax “apron” level of $138.9 million, which they cannot exceed under any circumstances.Ĭomplicating matters further, the previously non-guaranteed salary owed to second-year guard Chris Clemons became fully guaranteed once he suffered a season-ending Achilles injury in the preseason. The Rockets enter the 2020-21 NBA season needing to make every roster spot count.