Houston Rockets: The case against the Eric Gordon extension

The Houston Rockets have signed Eric Gordon to a lofty extension. Did they pay the 30-year-old guard too much?

As reported by Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle, the Houston Rockets and Eric Gordon have come to an agreement on a 4 year, $75.6 million extension. Tacking this onto his current contract it totals out to 5 years and $90 million overall.

Now, the last year is a non-guaranteed year (unless the Rockets win a championship or Gordon becomes an All-Star), which is about the only positive that comes out of this. Overall, this is too much money to pay to a 30-year-old guard who has not had a great past regarding his injury history. With the way Coach D’Antoni plays his rotation, those miles will only begin to rack up as father time comes a knocking.

Going forward, the Rockets are locked into James Harden, Russell Westbrook, Clint Capela, and Eric Gordon for the foreseeable future. With Harden and Westbrook handling most of the ball-handling duties for the Rockets these next few years, it will only begin to diminish the playmaking abilities of Eric Gordon and limit him more to a spot up shooter role.

Going forward, I would have rather seen the Rockets invest their future more in Austin Rivers compared to Eric Gordon. I like how Rivers can run the offense and defend guards at a higher level compared to Gordon. Rivers is also younger than Gordon as Rivers is only 27 years old and Gordon is currently 30 years old. That youth will only continue to benefit Rivers as he still has room to grow. Gordon has hit his peak with this Rockets team and we can only hope his health continues to hold up as the years go by.

While locking up Gordon will help this team going forward, his high cap number will continue to limit the Rockets’ options for the near future. Does this hinder P.J. Tucker and whether he can get an extension in the near future? What does this mean for Mike D’Antoni? Will the Rockets be able to keep Austin Rivers at the end of this season? This extension brings up tons of questions for the Rockets, but the best part about these questions is that it hopefully doesn’t have any impact on this season.