My tweet above links to the source. The quote is from Tim MacMahon in Friday’s episode of ESPN’s The Hoop Collective podcast, according to @The Cat in his latest RocketsWire article https://rocketswire.usatoday.com/st...them&utm_medium=trueanthem&utm_source=twitter
None of what MacMahon said doesn't really mean anything. Them not offering KD max money doesn't mean they don't want to pay up. At KD's age, years is also a factor in addition to per-year salary. A 2yr max deal can easily be changed to a 3yr less-than-max deal where the last year's partially guaranteed to make up the difference, for instance. It makes sense that there isn't an extension just yet if they are also trying to get Tari an extension at the same time. Tari's extension, or lack thereof, would affect how KD's contract would be structured to minimize Fertitta's tax bills. If the Rockets are truly playing hardball with KD, first of all the trade wouldn't have even happened in the first place. And even it did you'd see a lot more reports of dissatisfaction from KD's camp.
I am speaking of how these deals are done practically, not the way they're done by letter of the rule. But even if we do assume there isn't some handshake deal, KD can simply ask for a Player Option year 2 of the extension, and then renegotiate a lower salary to help reduce the tax bill, but get some amount of money in year 3 to make up for his own salary.
