4 most overpaid Houston Rockets heading into next season

2. Fred VanVleet

Fred VanVleet checks all the boxes for the Rockets: he's a legitimate floor general, he has a championship under his belt, he's a respectable defender, and he's a great veteran presence in the locker room. But that doesn't mean he isn't overpaid.

VanVleet is making $42.8 million on average, making him the highest paid player on the team by a country mile. You may be thinking 'well the Rockets have a young team, so of course he's making the most money'.

Again, he's still overpaid for what he brings to the table. After all, he just posted averages of 19.3 points, 7.2 assists, 39.3 percent from the field, and 34.2 percent from deep, the latter of which is a career-low.

This season, VanVleet is set to make more money than Luka Doncic, Trae Young, Kyrie Irving, Ja Morant, Darius Garland, and Jrue Holiday. Granted, the reason is understandable, as the Rockets were battling the "Rockets tax", meaning they were facing the ramifications of being one of the worst teams in the league over the last three seasons and didn't have much to offer aside from a hefty pay day.

So it's understandable how we got here, but VanVleet is occupying 28 percent of the Rockets' cap space, which is again quite hefty.