The Rockets are afraid they will make efforts again, and the future success or failure will be here

The Athletic reporter William Guillory wrote an article about the Rockets' offseason exposure of some updates to the Rockets in the next two weeks. William Guillory is a reporter who has been active in the Southwest Division for a long time, but he himself prefers to report on the Pelicans, so the authenticity can only be cautious.

William Guillory wrote: "The NBA circle generally believes that the Houston Rockets are working to reach a long-term contract extension with Tari Ethan, and his contract is still one year left, and then a new contract for Kevin Durant is finalized. Hopefully, once both contracts are confirmed, the Rockets will have a better understanding of the current financial prospects of this core lineup."

Durant is the last year of his contract this season, at 51.4 million. The Rockets are definitely not in the mentality of letting him go after the Suns trade. From the current perspective, the outside world generally believes that Durant will renew a 1+1 contract with the Rockets. He can sign a contract of $122 million for two years and $124 million for two years and six months later.

Durant still maintained a true shooting percentage of 61.2% last season (higher than the average of 55.8% in the same position) and a critical moment score of 4.2 points, with a winning contribution of 14.3. Durant is worth the maximum salary at any time, even if he is 37 years old. But the outside world has previously revealed that Durant is likely to choose to cut his salary for the Rockets' lineup.

It is no exaggeration to say that the number of players the Rockets can strengthen in the 26-27 season depends entirely on Durant's contract size. If he is willing to cut his salary to 50 million, the team can still free up a place in a middle-class contract. But if he doesn't cut his salary and stay in the team, the Rockets' ability to move next year will basically be the basic salary players. Ethan's situation is more special than Durant. It is difficult for you to measure his value. On the one hand, he is the best large-size defensive wing in the league today. He averaged 12 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game last season, shooting 48.7% from the field and 35% from three-pointers.

Regarding Ethan, TA's data analysis expert John Hollinger believes that high-order data shows that Ethan is a better player than JA. He bluntly stated that if Xiao Jia can get 125 million in five years, then Ethan's bottom line will be the same. But Hollinger also said that since the Rockets were willing to give Xiao Jia a five-year contract in advance, judging from Ethan's stranding so far, the Rockets may have a different view from him.

In fact, if we look at the performance of playing time in the last two games, in addition to the playoffs, I also think that as long as I can play Ethan is a player with a higher influence than Xiao Jia. (Xiao Jia's G1-G3 in the playoffs this year is too outstanding) But Ethan's influence is mainly on defense and rotational offense, and these values ​​are not easy to quantify into data. And even if it is not considered potential, Xiao Jia's role positioning is likely to be the center in the defensive end in the lineup. In the second half of this year, he is basically the defensive core of the substitute lineup. It is difficult for you to find such a player in the free market.

Although Ethan has stronger single defense than Jia, there are enough replacement players in the wings in the market. That is to say, the Rockets won Anthony Smith this year. Player Value Network BORD$ valued Ethan at $21.7 million (annual salary), partly due to its unstable recent health record. So what do you think Durant and Ethan's final contract will be?