As long as Daryl Morey is the general manager of the Houston Rockets, there will always be some sort of planning and scheming going on with the team. Morey isn’t shy to speak his mind and he will not hold back when it comes to his opinions on players.
Morey might not think that big men Terrence Jones and Donatas Motiejunas are bad players but he doesn’t think they are worthy of an extension at this time. The Rockets GM will let the extension deadline pass without reaching a new agreement on the two players, much like what the Warriors recently announced they would do with Harrison Barnes and Festus Ezeli.
Following from Shams Charania of Yahoo! sports.
The Houston Rockets and forwards Terrence Jones and Donatas Motiejunas are bypassing contract extensions before the Nov. 2 deadline, unable to gain traction in discussions, league sources told Yahoo Sports.
Neither side has had much movement in extension talks, sources said.Jones and Motiejunas will be eligible for significant long-term deals as restricted free agents in 2016 while Houston is able to retain salary cap room.
2016 could be a big summer for the Houston Rockets because if everything breaks right, they could have over an estimated $46 million in dropped salary and that’s before the cap is estimated to go up. They would just need Dwight Howard to decline his player option, drop the unguaranteed salary of both Ty Lawson and Corey Brewer and not re-sign both Jones and Motiejunas while also letting the contracts of Marcus Thorton and Jason Terry expire. It’s a lot to ask for but it’s not exactly crazy.
The market for both Motiejunas and Jones varies based on team needs but they both could command contracts in the $13-$17 million per year range in restricted free agency. Houston would be hard pressed to retain both players at that price but if an interested party like Al Horford, Mike Conley or even Kevin Durant comes calling, I would imagine Houston would let at least one of them walk.
