On Aug. 30, 2018, Eric Gordon tweeted during a question-and-answer session with fans that he’d like to retire with the Houston Rockets. Exactly one year later to the day, he took a huge step toward doing so.
Late Friday, news broke that the 30-year-old guard had agreed to a four-year, $76-million extension to remain with the Rockets. That figure is the maximum Houston could offer in a contract extension under the NBA’s salary cap (based on his prior deal).
Gordon has averaged 16.8 points in 31.3 minutes per game across three seasons in Houston, including a 36.4% clip from three-point range. Last postseason, he shot 40% on threes while also providing excellent defense against the likes of Utah’s Donovan Mitchell and Golden State’s Klay Thompson.
Here are a few immediate takeaways from the extension news:
1.) It eliminates what could have been a major distraction during the season. Had Eric Gordon not signed the extension, there’s a compelling case that entering the final year of his prior contract, he might have been too valuable for GM Daryl Morey not to move.
In other words, based on how harmful it would have been to potentially watch a player of Gordon’s caliber walk away for no compensation in 2020 free agency, Morey would have at least had to consider moving Gordon elsewhere by February’s trade deadline. That would have especially been the case with Houston being an over-the-cap team and thus having no additional resources to replace Gordon, arguably its third-best player, should he choose to leave.
Yet, even if the Rockets had gone down that path, it’s extremely unlikely that they would have gotten fair market value for Gordon since he’d have been just a few months from free agency. There also would have been very limited time to integrate whoever the team acquired for Gordon into its rotation before the 2020 playoffs.
With Gordon’s future secure, the Rockets now head into the first season of the new James Harden and Russell Westbrook partnership fully focused on winning a championship and without anything else hanging over their heads.
2.) Owner Tilman J. Fertitta showed a willingness to spend. With Fertitta’s ownership stint not even at two calendar years yet, the sample is still too small to draw any significant conclusions on Houston’s new owner. But this would seem to be encouraging, as it pertains to his willingness to invest for a championship contender.
Harden and Westbrook were already the NBA’s most expensive duo and signed through the 2022-23 season, if you include their player option years. Starting center Clint Capela is owed an average of more than $18 million annually over that same four-year span. That’s a significant amount of long-term money already on the books, and the 6-foot-4 Gordon isn’t even a likely starter with Harden and Westbrook ahead of him on the backcourt depth chart.
Paying the maximum amount available and ~$19 million annually to retain a probable sixth man speaks volumes on how committed Fertitta is to maintaining a title contender in Houston.
3.) The Rockets are betting on the benefits of continuity. After signing the extension, Gordon cannot be traded for six months. Since that time period runs until after this upcoming season’s trade deadline, it effectively locks in that the 2016-17 Sixth Man of the Year will spend his fourth full season with the Rockets.
In Harden’s legendary career to date, the only rotation-caliber players to have spent more than four seasons as his NBA teammate are Capela and Pat Beverley. Even as Harden enters his eighth year in Houston, he hasn’t often had the benefits of chemistry and continuity that come from roster stability and teammates that know each other’s games. This year, he and the Rockets will. Even Westbrook, as a newcomer, previously played three seasons alongside Harden.
Though the final year of Gordon’s four-year extension won’t kick in as guaranteed unless he either makes an All-Star team or the Rockets win the NBA title, he’s locked up through the 2022-23 season at a minimum. That lines up exactly with the deals to Capela, Harden, and Westbrook (counting the player options). None of those three players have any significant injury or age concerns at the moment, either. Thus, there’s a compelling argument to be made that this is the most stable supporting cast that Harden has had around him in Houston.
4.) Credit Gordon’s maturity for avoiding any hard feelings. For many NBA players, rumors that they were shopped on the market — as Gordon learned in June, when the Rockets were pursuing Jimmy Butler — might sour the relationship with their existing franchise, even if they weren’t dealt.
That’s not what happened here. Gordon was made available to other teams, but it wasn’t because the Rockets didn’t value him. Rather, he was shopped because Houston viewed Butler as slightly better. That shouldn’t be earth-shattering news, because nearly everyone around the NBA would agree with that assessment. But Gordon deserves credit for having the self-awareness to understand that Morey making him available in Butler scenarios was not in any way an indictment of his personal value or importance to the team. Morey also deserves credit for managing egos behind the scenes.
5.) Don’t judge Gordon solely by the percentages. At face value, Gordon’s three-point shooting in Houston has merely been good (36.4%) , rather than great. But his numbers are skewed to some degree by the incredible volume (8.8 per game) that he takes in Mike D’Antoni’s system. Gordon’s mere willingness to attempt so many threes, along with range going out to 27 feet or so, provides Harden and now Westbrook with the gravitational pull to open up driving lanes. Gordon is also capable of creating his own offense on drives.
Furthermore, Gordon has repeatedly shown a tendency for elevating his play in the biggest moments, including a 40.0% clip from behind the three-point arc in last year’s postseason.
6.) Don’t assume that this means a P.J. Tucker extension is also inevitable. It was reported earlier this month that Tucker, now 34 years old, also wants a contract extension. But unlike Gordon, Tucker still has two years left on his existing deal. When factoring in his age and a lack of time pressure, it’s unclear whether Morey would feel the same sense of urgency to get a deal done with the 6-foot-6 forward.
If the terms were friendly enough to the team, the Rockets would likely do it. But it’s not a move they likely feel compelled to make. As far as the potential for any hurt feelings, Gordon’s willingness to extend after multiple years of trade rumors should serve as a reminder that most players do understand the business component.
7.) The odds of a major Rockets trade this season went down with Gordon’s extension. With Gordon unable to be dealt by February’s deadline, Houston doesn’t have much in the way of available salary filler for trades this season. They could theoretically trade Capela, but that would almost certainly require Houston bringing back another center in the trade, given its lack of depth at the position. And Tucker, at 34 years old, would seem to have more value on a contender in Houston than he would for most other teams.
The Rockets do potentially still have up to $5.5 million of their Non-Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception (MLE) still available, which they could use on Andre Iguodala or other in-season buyout targets.
But most importantly, given the expected decline of the Warriors (who have eliminated Houston from the playoffs in four of the last five seasons), the Rockets finally aren’t entering a season wondering whether they have enough talent to win a championship. With Harden, Westbrook, Gordon, Capela, Tucker, and more, the Rockets absolutely have enough on paper to win a title. Now it’s up to them to follow through on that promise, and on Fertitta’s investment.
