The Houston Rockets have exercised the third-year options for Jalen Green, Alperen Sengun, Usman Garuba and Josh Christopher. All four players are 20 years old.

Green was the second overall pick by Houston in the 2021 NBA Draft.  He is averaging 20.7 points this season after scoring 20-plus points in 17 of the final 25 games in 2021-22 while earning All-Rookie First Team honors.  Green is averaging 2.8 3-pointers made on 37.0% shooting this season and is tied for the fourth-most 3FGM (174) through the first 73 games played of a career.

Sengun was originally the 16th overall pick by Oklahoma City in the 2021 NBA Draft before his rights were acquired by the Rockets.  He is averaging 15.3 ppg and 10.3 rpg in four games played this season, up from 9.5 ppg and 5.4 rpg as a rookie in 2021-22.  Dating back to 1976-77, Sengun is the first player to have recorded at least 60 points and 40 rebounds while playing fewer than 100 minutes through the first four games played in a season.

Garuba was the 23rd overall pick by the Rockets in the 2021 NBA Draft.  In 28 career games, he is averaging 7.5 ppg, 12.5 rpg, 2.5 apg, 1.7 spg and 1.4 bpg per 36 minutes played.  This past summer, Garuba helped Spain win the FIBA EuroBasket Championship.

Christopher was the 24th overall pick by Houston in the 2021 NBA Draft.  Over the final 18 games of 2021-22, he averaged 11.1 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 2.6 apg and 1.1 spg in 22.6 mpg while shooting 47.8% from the floor.  Christopher had the third-most games of recording multiple steals (21) by any rookie last season.

When John Wall sat out the entirety of the 21-22 season, it was widely portrayed as a mutual decision between him and the Houston Rockets. Wall recently made it clear that it was not his choosing.

"Pissed as hell," said Wall to Sam Amick of The Athletic. "Pissed as hell. I wanted to play basketball. In my last meeting I had there, they were like, ‘Oh, you had a great year the year before. We can’t wait to have you back next year. Build on this, and try to keep helping young guys.’ So I’m thinking I’ll play the same role I played the year before."

Wall was asked to specify who from the Rockets he was communicating with.

"I’m talking to (Rockets coach Stephen) Silas, and I ended up talking to (Rockets general manager) Rafael (Stone) too. Those are great guys, and I ended up talking to both of them. It’s the exit meeting, so you’re talking to both of them back-to-back. And I’m thinking, ‘OK, I’m coming back here next year. And I want to be in a winning situation, but whatever position God put me in, I’m built for it. I can get through it. I just want to help as much as I can.’ And I felt like I deserved to play, like I deserved to start. (But) if you drafted a guy No. 1, or No. 2, and he’s a point guard, like I totally get it. I’m not mad about that.

"So that was kind of tough for me to be in that situation, because I want to play. And then the whole time, I was like, ‘Man, we’ve got to find a way to get out of here.’ I know it’s gonna be harder because I had two years left (on his contract worth a combined $91 million)."

Wall was then asked how the Rockets informed him of their change of position.

"In August, I went back to check on my condo and I was going back to Miami, where I’ll (stay) in the summer. So they were like, ‘Yo, the thing is, listen, we’ll bring you out for like 10 minutes a game, and sometimes you won’t play at all, or you can just not play at all the whole year and we’ll try to find a trade.’ And I was like, ‘I’m not trying to play 10 minutes a game or not play some games.’ I didn’t want to do that."

When the Houston Rockets looked for a replacement for Carroll Dawson to run their front office in 2006, Les Alexander wanted a big name.

Alexander initially tried to lure Billy Beane from the Oakland Athletics and then offered the job to Jay Bilas, but the two sides couldn't agree on contract terms.

Alexander eventually decided on Morey, who had a dual role with the Boston Celtics on the business and basketball side.

When Morey interviewed with Alexander, he landed in Houston at 9:00 AM and had a job offer by 2:00 PM after a long lunch discussing a variety of topics.

Alexander sold the Rockets to Tilman Fertitta in 2017 and Morey departed the franchise in 2020.

The Houston Rockets and Kevin Porter Jr. have agreed to a unique rookie scale contract extension. Porter's new deal is worth up to $82.5 million over four seasons, but there's a catch.

Only the first season of Porter's extension is fully guaranteed. Houston has protections on the final three seasons, should they want to move on from Porter.

Since joining the Rockets in January of 2021, Porter has appeared in 87 games over a season-plus. He's averaged 15.9 points, 4.2 rebounds and 6.2 assists in 31.5 minutes per game for Houston. The Rockets see Porter and Jalen Green as their potential long-term backcourt.

Porter has also had on- and off-court issues throughout his three years in the NBA. Porter was sent away by the Cleveland Cavaliers (his initial NBA team) for behavioral problems. And last season, Porter chose to leave the arena rather than return for the second half of a Rockets game against the Denver Nuggets. Porter, and then Rocket Christian Wood, took issue with criticism from Houston coaches during halftime.

These anger issues are likely the reason the Rockets have fully guaranteed only Porter's first season. Locking in the remaining years will be the motivation for the talented guard to stay focused and on his best behavior.

The Houston Rockets will waive Derrick Favors.

The Rockets needed to make a roster cut in order to reach 15 guaranteed contracts before the start of the season.

Favors was recently acquired by Houston in a trade with the Oklahoma City Thunder. 

Host Danny Leroux (@DannyLeroux) and Arturo Galletti (@AmericanNumbers) break down the over/unders for the Western Conference.

They discuss the win total, division, conference and title odds as well as any pertinent individual award lines for the Thunder (2:03), Rockets (10:47), Spurs (16:23), Jazz (20:47), Kings (28:06), Trail Blazers (33:38), Pelicans (39:22), Lakers (46:58), Timberwolves (54:41), Mavericks (1:01:10), Grizzlies (1:06:48), Nuggets (1:11:50), Warriors (1:16:41), Clippers (1:25:11) and Suns (1:29:04).

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The Houston Rockets waived Theo Maledon, sources told Kelly Iko of The Athletic.

Maledon averaged 7.1 points and 2.2 assists for the Thunder last season. 

The Houston Rockets today announced they have claimed forward Darius Days off waivers from Miami in addition to signing free agent forward Trhae Mitchell.

Days (6-7, 240) was eligible for the 2022 NBA Draft following his senior season at LSU, during which he was teammates with Rockets forward Tari Eason.  He was one of two Division I players to have averaged at least 13.0 points, 7.0 rebounds, 1.50 steals and 2.0 3-pointers made in 2021-22.  Days averaged 13.7 ppg and 10.0 rpg while shooting 55.6% from the floor and 37.5% from 3-point range for San Antonio at the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.

Mitchell (6-6, 195) was eligible for the 2020 NBA Draft following his senior season at South Alabama.  He spent the past two seasons with the Rockets G League affiliate, Rio Grande Valley, and played for Houston at the 2022 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.  From 2018-19 through 2019-20, Mitchell was the only Division I player to have recorded at least 800 points, 400 rebounds, 160 assists, 70 steals and 100 blocks.

The Houston Rockets have waived Moe Harkless.

Harkless was acquired as part of a recent trade with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Harkless will become a free agent.

The Houston Rockets have signed veteran center Willie Cauley-Stein. It's unclear if Houston plans to keep Cauley-Stein when they cut the roster down next week.

Cauley-Stein is a seven-year NBA veteran. He's played for the Sacramento Kings, Golden State Warriors, Dallas Mavericks and Philadelphia 76ers in his career.

The Rockets roster is in transition. They recently competed an eight-player trade with the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Rockets already waived Ty Jerome, and none of the three other players Houston acquired are expected to have a long-term future with the team.