3 bold predictions for the Houston Rockets' offseason

It's good to have options.

A wider range of optionality means flexibility. NBA teams love to be flexible. The ability to entertain as many possibilities as they can is something every general manager craves.

The Houston Rockets face a lot of possibilities. This is a young team with a solid collection of assets. The Rockets are looking to improve, but whether they'd mortgage much of their future for short-term goals is unclear.

We won't claim to know what the Rockets will do this summer. It's anyone's guess. That said, we're willing to make predictions.

Here are three bold ones for the Rockets this summer.

1. The Rockets don't extend anyone

Theoretically, the Rockets could extend both Alperen Sengun and Jalen Green this summer. In practice, it may not be wise to extend either.

With Sengun, it's a matter of practicality. His cap hold next summer is substantially smaller if the Rockets wait to extend him. Remember that optionality we discussed? The Rockets may want some cap space to make a major acquisition. Otherwise, there's no question that Sengun has been worthy of a rookie scale max extension.

By contrast, Green still needs to earn that type of lucrative deal. He surely looked the part throughout March of 2024. Still, the Rockets may want to see more than one month of star-caliber basketball from Green before paying him accordingly.

Either way, we expect the Rockets to hold off on offering either a long-term deal. The Rockets will want to preserve their optionality for next summer, and if Green has another cold start to 2024-25, they may shop him (again?) at the deadline.