4:05pm: The Rockets have officially signed Green to his extension, according to NBA.com’s transaction log.
According to NBA reporter Jake Fischer (Twitter link), Green’s new deal features a 10% trade kicker. Meanwhile, the year-by-year breakdown provided by Marks (Twitter link) suggests the exact value of the contract is right around $105.3MM.
2:48pm: The Rockets and guard Jalen Green have agreed to terms on a three-year rookie scale extension worth $106MM, agents Aaron Mintz, Andrew Morrison, and Shakira Wardally tell Shams Charania and Bobby Marks of ESPN (Twitter link). The deal will include a third-year player option.
The No. 2 overall pick in the 2021 draft, Green has averaged 19.8 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 3.3 assists per game in his 225 NBA outings (all starts).
Green’s shooting percentages during his first three seasons have been modest (.421/.337/.794) and his defense has been inconsistent, but he has shown tantalizing flashes of putting it all together, including during a 15-game stretch near the end of the 2023/24 season when he averaged 29.2 PPG on .488/.422/.782 shooting and led the Rockets to 13 wins in 15 games to keep them in the play-in hunt.
The terms of Green’s new deal are quite unusual for a few reasons. For one, most rookie scale extensions cover at least four seasons and those that don’t are typically far less lucrative contracts signed by role players.
Based on our research, the largest three-year rookie scale extension signed prior to this year was the $52.5MM contract Caris LeVert received in 2019. Green’s contract will more than double the annual average value of LeVert’s.
Green also received a player option, which has become a rarity for rookie scale extensions. Of the 31 rookie scale extensions completed since 2022 prior to this deal, just one featured a player option, and that contract (for Nuggets big man Zeke Nnaji) was for four years. Green’s option will be for the 2027/28 season, allowing him to potentially reach unrestricted free agency at age 25.
As Bobby Marks of ESPN observes (via Twitter), because Green’s new contract is for just three years instead of four or five seasons, he’ll also become eligible for his next extension earlier than most rookie scale extension recipients. He’ll be able to sign an extension worth up to a projected $227MM+ over four years as of October 26, per Marks.
While it remains to be seen whether or not the Rockets will try to become a cap-space team during the 2025 offseason, Green’s new contract won’t necessarily affect their ability to do so, since he would’ve had a significant cap hold (exceeding $37MM) as a restricted free agent. His first-year salary on his new deal will be $33.5MM, per Kelly Iko of The Athletic (Twitter link), which is a little more than $5MM below his projected max.
Shorter length, but closer to the money JG’s camp wanted. Nice compromise. Time to show up, Jalen!
Now do Al P
Good deal. He wasn’t worth the max nor the 4-5 years. If he proves otherwise max him at that time. Very few top level players actually swap teams unexpectedly.
Great deal for the rockets. These teams that have been handing out these massive contracts to guys they are hoping will be good made no sense to me. Also, it gives the rockets even more financial flexibility this next offseason. People keep saying to extend Alpi, but it makes way more sense to do it next off season because he has a low cap hit hold. They can sign guys first and then reup him
Why? Him and Sengun can’t play together. They are out of sync with each other and I like Sengun abilities more as of right now. If those two can finally figure out how to play together on the court, it would be a solid duo.
Stone is doing a great job running this team.
Into the ground
Only 3 years? They don’t value him like they value Sengun…
A little surprised Green didn’t bet on himself, but I think this makes sense for both sides. Rockets get to lock him in well below the max if he manages to make a big leap this year. Green gets security considering he’s yet to become a reliable shooter, playmaker or defender (and may never will).