The 4 most underpaid Houston Rockets heading into next season

The Houston Rockets find themselves in an interesting situation, as it pertains to the contracts on their books. The Rockets have opted to undergo an organic rebuild, as they've stockpiled talent through the NBA Draft by bottoming out.

The Rockets landed Jalen Green. Jabari Smith Jr., and Amen Thompson as a result of their tanking efforts and appear to set up well for the future. Granted, it wasn't always pretty, as Rockets fans have had to suffer quite extensively but it was a worthy sacrifice.

The Houston Rockets have several of the NBA's most underpaid players heading into next season.

In the end, the Rockets acquired a bevy of young talent on cheap, rookie-scaled deals. This is pivotal for a team aspiring to return to contention-status, as teams with those aspirations generally get there by having several intricate players outplay their contractual value.

This figures to be a rather easy task for the Rockets, as essentially their entire young core is on team-friendly deals.

We provided a list of the most overpaid players on the team, now let's take a look at Houston's four-most underpaid players ahead of next season.

4. Kevin Porter Jr.

Kevin Porter Jr. has become a bit of a polarizing figure for Rockets fans. Either you hate him or you love him, it seems.

There doesn't seem to be much in between.

Many have never been able to live down KPJ's off-court issues and/or attitude issues. What's gotten lost in the shuffle is the bargain of a contract that KPJ is on with the Rockets.

Porter is still just 23-years-old and is making just $15.86 million guaranteed, which ranks 101st in the NBA and 28th among point guards, although his point guard days are surely over, following the additions of Fred VanVleet, Amen Thompson, and Aaron Holiday.

A player who can thrive as a secondary creator, who is a near 40 percent marksman from deep, who is still the youngest player to post a 50-point 10-assist game should be making more than $15.86 million. For reference, Porter ranks behind Tim Hardaway Jr., Marcus Morris, Duncan Robinson, and Evan Fournier.

Even the biggest KPJ detractor would agree that he provides more than several names on that list.

Whether you think Porter can be the Rockets' version of Manu Ginobili or you think he must disappear from the Rockets' roster expeditiously, he still remains one of only 11 players last season who had at least 1100 points, 300 assists, 300 rebounds, and 140 3-pointers made.

The others, you ask?

James Harden, Luka Doncic, Jrue Holiday, CJ McCollum, Stephen Curry, Anthony Edwards, and Jayson Tatum, Kyrie Irving, Zach LaVine, Julius Randle.

Perhaps now you see the bargain of KPJ's contract.

3. Jae'Sean Tate

Jae'Sean Tate has largely fallen out of favor among Rockets fans, as most fans would have preferred for the Rockets to have traded him by now, as opposed to Kenyon Martin Jr. Tate missed 51 games in 2022-23 due to injury but had a pretty significant dropoff when he was on the court.

Tate averaged 9.1 points and 3.8 rebounds, while shooting 48 percent from the field, which were all career-lows. An even greater issue has been Tate's lack of ability to shoot from long-range, which was supposed to have been a point of emphasis for him last offseason.

Tate made just 28.3 percent of his triples, which also represented a career-worst. But flaws and imperfections aside, Tate's $6.5 million salary next year makes him a valuable asset, as he ranks as the league's 209th-highest-paid player.

And it's not like he doesn't hold any trade value. Remember, the Boston Celtics were reportedly trying to land the utility player in exchange for Grant Williams. Tate is a high-energy hustle player who can operate as a tertiary ballhandler, as he has underrated playmaking chops.

In addition, Tate's 230-pound frame has proven to be advantageous when operating in the post. All in all, Tate is the 32nd-highest paid small forward in the league, which makes him immensely underpaid.

2. Tari Eason

In many respects, Tari Eason has already made the James Harden trade a bit of a success. The Rockets acquired Eason with the 17th pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, which originally belonged to the Brooklyn Nets.

Eason was one of just 10 teams who played in all 82 games in 2022-23, which is a bigger deal than it may seem to be, due to the load management crisis that's been rearing its ugly head in the NBA. Eason was constantly scrapping for loose balls and fighting for second-chance opportunities, as his 2.4 offensive rebounds ranked second on the team, despite him being a reserve.

Eason brings an infusion of energy and has the ability to defend multiple positions on the floor. To that point, Eason was always making defensive impact plays and developed a knack for getting steals.

When Eason gets out on the break, he's a problem. Simple and plain. And he possesses an underrated playmaking ability, which was especially on display in the Summer League, where he averaged 4 assists per game.

In spite of all that Eason brings to the table, he ranks as the 285-highest-paid player in the NBA and the 58th-highest-paid power forward. As if that isn't crazy enough, Eason ranks as just the 11th-highest-paid player on his own team.

Talk about underpaid.

The Rockets can thank the CBA for that, as Eason is on a rookie contract, which are scaled based on draft position. Fortunately for the Rockets (and unfortunately for Eason), they've got three more years of club control with Eason, and are set to pay him $3.5 million in 2023-24, $3.69 million in 2024-25, and $5.6 million in 2025-26.

Eason will then hit unrestricted free agency in 2026. He may be underpaid for quite some time.

1. Alperen Sengun

Three years into Rafael Stone's tenure as the Houston Rockets GM, Alperen Sengun has been perhaps his biggest find. Make no mistake about it: Sengun has been his signature move.

Stone traded up to get Sengun outside of the draft lottery, which was a true steal, considering his skillset. The biggest NBA stars have taken notice of Sengun's talent too.

Future Hall of Famer Kevin Durant has given Sengun praise and it doesn't just stop there. Take a look at what LA Clippers superstar Paul George had to say about the Turkish big man.

At that size, at that position...his playmaking. I mean I've seen some flashiness where he [pretends to throw a behind-the-back pass]...on some Magic Johnson type of sh-t.

He can really hoop. He's got a good touch, a good feel. He's got playmaking, great vision. He's gonna be the baby Joker.

I think he has the full, complete package at the center position.

He's got shades of Marc Gasol, he's got shades of Pau Gasol. He's got shades of Jokic.



He's got shades of like the great bigs that can pass, that can shoot, that can playmake. He's a super, super high IQ player. I love his game."

George compares Sengun, a center, to Magic Johnson, who is viewed as one of the all-time great point guards in league history. Perhaps the most common positional comparisons we've seen for Sengun have been Nikola Jokic and Domantas Sabonis, due to their ability to create and facilitate for others.

But there's a pretty vast drop off in salary between Sengun and those players. And that's an understatement.

Jokic ranks as the highest-paid center in the league, as he's set to make $47.6 million in 2023-24, while Sabonis is the eighth-highest paid power forward in the league at $28 million guaranteed (and potentially an additional $2.6 million in incentives).

Sengun is the 47th-highest paid center in the league at $3.5 million next season, which is absolutely insane. I think you know that there aren't 46 better players than Sengun at the center position.

Sengun's $3.5 million in 2023-24 ranks 284th among all players, and again, there aren't 283 better players than Sengun. Granted, the Rockets don't necessarily deserve credit for his contract, as it's rookie scaled and essentially pre-determined (like Eason's).

But his value surpasses his earnings ten-fold, as Sengun averaged 14.8 points, 9 rebounds, and 3.9 assists, while shooting 55.3 percent from the field, and 59.9 percent true shooting last season. What's even more impressive is the fact that Sengun pulled this off without any real structure.