Now more than perhaps ever, the Houston Rockets needed a point guard. Whether you feel that Kevin Porter Jr. was one or not is now inconsequential due to Porter’s actions this offseason. But there’s no doubting that Houston’s offense was we’ll just say stagnant last year (and beyond).
The Rockets remedied this situation by handing former NBA Champion Fred VanVleet a three-year, $128 million contract, giving him an average annual salary of $42 million per season.
Was it an overpay? Almost certainly. But when you’re the worst (or among the worst) team in the league for three years running, that’s what it’s going to take to convince a near-prime 29-year-old legit NBA point guard to leave the team he won a title with to man the helm at what’s been the NBA doldrums since the start of the decade.