Rockets give Daryl Morey a 4-year extension

It was announced today that the Houston Rockets have given General Manager Daryl Morey a 4-year contract extension that runs through 2022.

This is great news for the Rockets, as they now have one’s of the league’s best and most aggressive GMs locked up for the next 5 seasons (Morey had one year remaining on his current deal).

This allows Morey to concentrate on adding another big name to the roster, and with the draft fast approaching, the Houston GM is rumored to be very busy. Ethan posted yesterday about the Rockets’ pursuit of Paul George, while the Rockets were linked to Chris Paul as early as last week.

In addition, it’s now also being reported that Morey is after Blake Griffin, Kyle Lowry and/or Paul Millsap, in addition to the aforementioned Paul and George. In order to create the cap room needed to chase one of those big-ticket items, the Rockets will have to jettison salary, and Morey is reportedly looking to clear cap room by dealing Patrick Beverley, Lou Williams and/or Ryan Anderson in the lead up to the draft on Thursday night.

Morey’s obviously wasting no time getting to work this offseason, and if he manages to lure another star into Rockets red to join James Harden, he’ll have already earned that extra cheddar.

While the Rockets haven’t won an NBA title in over 20 years, it’s reassuring that both franchise owner Les Alexander and the GM he’s trusted his faith and his team to are always on the active hunt for another ring. These guys have a plan, and even if it doesn’t always work out, you can rest assured that the franchise’s front office is consistently looking to improve.

While that’s occasionally resulted in a reputation for treating players even more like commodities than your normal franchise (one look at the Bev trade rumors will tell you that), it’s also resulted in a rep for taking care of those who matter most.

The Rockets have already extended James Harden once, and just yesterday it was reported they’re looking to extend him again well beyond the 2020 season. Now with Daryl Morey’s extension also in place, the two most irreplaceable franchise cornerstones should be around for the foreseeable future.

That type of consistency with the organization’s top pieces could be a huge pitch point this season, as the Rockets try to sell George, Paul, Griffin, Lowry, Millsap and others on playing for one of the league’s best GMs and with one of its top players.