Can the Houston Rockets sign Kevin Durant next offseason?
With Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin Durant slated to hit free agency next offseason, there will be no shortage of teams lining up to try and sign him.
But will the Houston Rockets, with two max players in James Harden and Dwight Howard, be able to enter the sweepstakes?
Here's Greg Chin at Hoops Habit with more:
Virtually every team has been linked with Durant, especially the contenders. The Houston Rockets are no exception – general manager Daryl Morey is one of the savviest general managers out there when it comes to matters of cap space. Despite having two max players on his payroll, the Rockets might have enough room to be a serious player in Durant’s free agency.
Durant, who is eligible for a maximum contract worth 30 percent of the cap, could stand to earn up to $26.7 million in the first year of his new contract. The Rockets’ guaranteed contracts for next season add up to $76.36 million, which includes Dwight Howard’s $23.3 million player option, but does not reflect Terrence Jones and Donatas Motiejunas’ qualifying offers. With that figure in mind, the Rockets will have $12.64 million in cap space, provided that the cap is $89 million.
While the figure is quite short of Durant’s starting max, the Rockets could very easily dump contracts to create enough cap room where it then becomes fiscally plausible to sign Durant.
(h/t Hoops Habit)
