Rockets, Alperen Şengün agree to 5-year, $185M deal

https://www.espn.com/nba/insider/st...kie-contract-extensions-reaction-grades-deals

Rockets secure top duo in separate extension deals

•Agreed to a reported five-year, $185 million extension with center Alperen Sengun
•Agreed to a reported three-year, $106 million extension with guard Jalen Green

Grade: Pass for Sengun deal, fail for Green deal (extensions graded on pass/fail scale)

If you had set the over/under total on Rockets rookie extensions at 0.5, I probably would have taken the under. Instead, Houston ended up agreeing to deals with both of the team's 2021 first-round picks, who have developed into core starters on a rising young team.

The Sengun extension is particularly surprising because the Rockets could have utilized his small $16.3 million cap hold to potentially create space next summer before re-signing him as a restricted free agent, similar to how the Philadelphia 76ers waited on signing Tyrese Maxey in order to sign Paul George.

But the two sides compromised on a deal that pays Sengun a little more than 80% of the expected $224 million max for rookie extensions. That's a win for the Rockets given Sengun was as productive as any 2021 draft pick last season, when he averaged 21.1 PPG, 9.3 RPG and 5.0 APG and finished third in voting for Most Improved Player.

The trade-off that surely made this contract palatable for Sengun was getting a player option on the fifth year, a luxury that typically has been reserved for rookie extensions for elite players.

As ESPN's Bobby Marks noted, Luka Doncic and Trae Young were the last two players to get that option. If Sengun develops into a superstar, Houston might regret not pushing for a straight five-year deal, particularly given even Maxey didn't manage to get a player option on his new deal.

However, securing Sengun at considerably less than the maximum could prove important as the Rockets manage a number of quality young players graduating from rookie contracts to more lucrative extensions.

Green is one such case, and he got a creative extension that might work better for him than for Houston. The negotiations with Green figured to be complicated by differing views on his value around the league. The No. 2 pick in the 2021 draft, Green hadn't yet played up to the max level achieved by the other three players taken in the top four (Cunningham, Mobley, Barnes) -- all of whom already agreed to extensions over the summer.

Green has shown flashes of the stardom expected when he was drafted, especially in last season's final 18 games where he averaged 24.2 points, 6.6 rebounds and 4.3 assists with above-average efficiency after Sengun suffered a season-ending ankle injury.

Given the difficulty finding elite shooting guards and Green's age (22), that kind of performance merited max or near-max compensation. However, much of the Rockets' success in that span came against lottery-bound teams, and Green's efficiency was buoyed by far better 3-point shooting (38%) than in the first three-quarters of the season (31%).

As ESPN's Shams Charania reported, Green is the first player to sign a three-year rookie extension with a player option. Typically, player options in rookie extensions have been limited to elite superstars who can command them in the final season of a five-year max deal. This structure is very different, putting Green potentially in unrestricted free agency in the summer of 2027 at age 25.

Alternatively, Marks pointed out that a three-year extension with a player option gives both sides the flexibility of negotiating an extension in October 2026 ahead of Green's option. But if Green develops as he and Houston hope, he'll be negotiating from a much stronger position.

With Sengun's extension taking the Rockets out of the running for significant 2025 cap space, I think I'd probably have favored waiting to re-sign Green in restricted free agency next summer. Green will have to develop quickly into a star to be worth much more than his salary in this extension, and if he does, Houston will wish this contract was longer.