The NBA offseason is beginning to heat up as 28 of the 30 teams have already shifted into building for next season. The Rockets have made the first noteworthy player move by re-signing Steven Adams to a three-year, $39 million contract extension to keep him in Houston.
Adams is a valued veteran presence on this young Rockets team and proved his importance in the postseason. The 31-year-old was limited to 58 games in the regular season due to injury and averaged just 3.9 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.1 assists in his 13.7 minutes per game.
He then saw his level of opportunity expand in the playoffs and made the most of it. Adams played 22.1 minutes per game across the seven-game matchup with the Warriors, averaging 5.7 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game. Houston had some real success playing Adams alongside Alperen Sengun in the series to dominate the rebounding battle. The Rockets were +44 when Adams was on the floor and -44 when he was on the bench during the seven-game matchup with Golden State.
Houston led all playoff teams with 46.9 rebounds per game. Adams played a huge role in this, producing a ridiculous 21.9% rebounding percentage and 21.8% on the offensive glass. While the sample size is small, this is the highest offensive rebounding percentage of any player in the NBA across the past three seasons.
Adams has never been a free agent in his career, as he signed an extension with each team he has been on before hitting the open market. He will now accumulate over $200 million in total career earnings after this contract and will continue to be a part of Houston’s transition into a true win-now contender.
There are bigger fish to fry this offseason for the Rockets, as they are heavily linked to a Kevin Durant trade and hold the 10th overall pick in the upcoming NBA Draft. They also have a June 29th deadline to decide on the $44.9 million team option for Fred VanVleet. Houston shores up its frontcourt with this move and takes away one of the top potential big men on the free agent market heading into this upcoming free agency.
Ahead of what will surely be a busy offseason, the Rockets currently hold +1200 odds of winning the NBA championship, the sixth-best odds, and the third-best odds of winning the Western Conference on DraftKings Sportsbook.
