Houston Rockets: Should the Rockets extend Victor Oladipo?

Houston Rockets: Why they should extend Victor Oladipo

The financial implications of extending Victor Oladipo are clear but the reason he is expensive is that he is an impactful player on the court. Every NBA team is looking for an Oladipo quality player and when you have one in town you should do everything you can to keep them around.

The Rockets are locked into John Wall and Christian Wood for the next two-years and Eric Gordon for three more. The Rockets might want to rebuild but for the next two seasons, they’ll have a roster that is too talented to completely bottom out.

Oladipo won’t command a supermax contract and with the salary-cap likely to take a step back the Rockets could convince him to take a shorter deal to allow him to regain some value and enter free agency again when the league’s economic situation is stronger. It is no secret that Oladipo has dreams of playing for the Miami Heat, as reported by Kevin O’Connor of TheRinger, but to bring him in they would have to decline the options on some combination of Goran Dragic, Andre Iguodala, Meyers Leonard, and Avery Bradley.

The best move for Victor Oladipo is to look for a one-year pillow contract with a player option for a second season. A contract like this won’t kill the Rockets financially and because they’re set up to enter a serious rebuild following the 2022-23 season it allows them to be competitive now before the serious pain can begin.

The Rockets are not in a position to bottom out and bringing back Oladipo for two to three years lines up well with the franchise’s current contracts. Everyone wants to be a contender but being competitive while you rebuild is a strategy that the best franchises are able to pull off and the Rockets are in a position to do.

Next: The final verdict