With unique contract structures, Rockets working to mitigate 2027-28 financial crunch
As they navigate various luxury-tax and apron thresholds under the NBA's latest Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), the Houston Rockets are bracing for an expensive payroll in the 2027-28 season.
That future season is particularly tricky for the Rockets, since it's likely to be the first year of a maximum-salaried contract extension for Amen Thompson and the final season of a seemingly inevitable two-year extension for Kevin Durant.
So, led by general manager Rafael Stone and assistant general manager Eli Witus, Houston is already making preparations — and that's increasingly evident based on the contract structures of the team's recent deals in the 2025 offseason.
HoopsHype's Michael Scotto reported Monday that both of the final two seasons of Dorian Finney-Smith's four-year contract with the Rockets are non-guaranteed, starting with the aforementioned 2027-28 season.
And the five-year extension for Jabari Smith Jr., per Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic, contains an even more curious structure to prioritize 2027-28 flexibility.
Vorkunov writes:
That five-year rookie extension they gave Smith is a rollercoaster deal (my patent pending). It starts at $23.64 million in the first year, then dips to $21.75 million in year two before escalating back up to $23.64 million in year 3 and continuing on the upswing to $27.43 million in the final year. That comes after the Rockets signed Dorian Finney-Smith to what HoopsHype reported is a four-year deal with only the first two years fully guaranteed.
The dip in Smith's second season, 2027-28, should help the Rockets because it will be the second season of Kevin Durant's potential new contract and the first year of Amen Thompson's rookie extension. Every dollar will count for Houston that season as they likely navigate an apron of some sort, let alone the luxury-tax implications.
But the Rockets have a smart front office and thought ahead.
As for the 2028 offseason and beyond, Durant turns 39 years old that September. So, the odds would suggest that he's likely to either retire or be on a downward career trajectory by that time, which would lead to the future Hall of Famer either coming off Houston's salary books entirely or playing at a much-reduced rate.
In turn, that would alleviate much of the financial pressure on the total payroll, which explains why the 2028-29 season is when Smith's deal starts to go back up.
And if Durant somehow defies the usual aging curve and is still producing at an All-Star level at 39 years old, that's a good problem to have — and one the Rockets are happy to worry about in 2028, should it occur.
For now, they're doing their financial planning based on more realistic scenarios.
More: Shams: Rockets, Kevin Durant plan to end his NBA career in Houston
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