Both sides need more time to talk about this.
It’s well-known that the Houston Rockets hold a $44.9 million team option on Fred VanVleet for the 2025-2026 season. It’s been a topic of conversation pretty much everywhere in Rockets-dom that no one really knows how this story will ultimately play out. Well, it appears that neither do VanVleet or the Rockets. It was announced today that the two sides agreed to extend the deadline on a decision until June 29.
The Houston Rockets and guard Fred VanVleet are pushing back Friday’s deadline date to June 29 on his $44.9 million team option for 2025-26 season, sources tell ESPN. This gives both sides additional time to navigate exercising the option versus completing a longer term deal.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) May 7, 2025
This is not surprising, with the original deadline of Friday rolling up fast, and the Rockets still licking their wounds from their opening round NBA Playoffs loss to the Golden State Warriors (what else is new?). Having to make a huge decision like that after an emotional end to the season seems like a lot to me too, and I’m definitely on the side that this extenstion is a good thing. It gives both sides the chance to truly absorb and process everything that’s happened this season and how to move forward.
VanVleet did exactly what he was brought in to do — help the kids grow up. And after an awfully slow playoff start, he was probably Houston’s best player during their comeback from a 3-1 deficit to the Warriors.
But is he worth $44.9 million this season? I don’t think there’s anyone that believes that. He’s coming off a season in which he averaged his lowest points (14.1) and assists (5.6) since 2019, the lowest field goal percentage (37.8) since his rookie year, and the second lowest three-point percentage (34.5) of his career. He also missed 22 games due to injury.
The 31-year-old is still a good player and a fantastic leader on and off the court, but he looks to be going over the hump into the downside of his career, and the best bet for both parties is to come up with a long-term solution that gives VanVleet a commitment that he’s likely looking for, while VanVleet is going to have to give some on the money.
The good news is that both sides want this to work out. They’ve both made that clear. They’re likely (hopefully) just giving themselves more time to work out the deets of what exactly that looks like.