Free agent swingman Iman Shumpert has opted to decline a contract offer from the Rockets and won’t be attending the team’s mini-camp in Las Vegas this week, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). According to Charania, Shumpert made this decision after “months of discussions.”
Shumpert, 29, is one of the most notable veteran free agents still on the market. The eight-year veteran, who has spent time with the Knicks, Cavaliers, Kings, and Rockets since entering the league, averaged 7.5 PPG, 3.0 RPG, and 1.8 APG with a .374/.348/.800 shooting line last season in 62 total games for Sacramento and Houston.
It’s not clear what the Rockets’ offer to Shumpert looked like, but I can’t imagine it was particularly lucrative, since Houston is inching dangerously close to luxury tax territory. Ben Stinar of Amico Hoops offers an intriguing tidbit, tweeting that Shumpert is looking at other options because the Rockets “reneged on their initial promise” to him.
This is entirely my speculation, but I wonder if the deal the Rockets proposed to Shumpert shared some similarities with the incentive-packed one Nene signed. After all, it seems unlikely that a straightforward minimum-salary offer would’ve required “months of discussions.”
Shumpert has also been viewed as a possible sign-and-trade candidate if the Rockets decide to aggressively pursue a trade for Andre Iguodala, but nothing appears imminent on that front.
He probably thinks he won’t get the ball playing with hog cheese harden and Westbrook!
That is why Houston can never win the league, you have to go into the lux tax for that to happen & that Ferttita dude is as cheap as they come. I feel for Harden & Westbrook stuck there with no chance at winning.
Their payroll is $9M over the Luxury Tax threshold right now.
Only Golden State and Portland have larger payrolls than Houston.
Yeah seriously Island, look at the spend of the Rockets the last few years and tell me how the owner is cheap.
They have been a luxury tax team pretty consistently, and have been willing to go further into the tax if it helped them acquire another star. I don’t blame him for not wanting to go in deeper to sign a Shump type of player.
They don’t win because they build flawed rosters around two dominant ball handlers and not much else. Harden and Westbrook won’t work just like Harden and Paul didn’t.