2018 NBA free agency has begun, and the Houston Rockets will be retaining Chris Paul. Let’s take a look at the contract details and grade the deal.
2018 NBA free agency has officially begun, and it didn’t take long for the Houston Rockets to take care of business.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Rockets and Chris Paul have reached an agreement on a four-year, $160 million maximum contract.
This news is hardly unexpected, as Paul was never expected to leave Houston in free agency. Paul, along with James Harden, led the Rockets to the best record in the NBA last season at 65-17.
He will now return to Houston to try and lead them past the rival Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference. It can be argued, had Paul not been injured in Game 5 with Houston up 3-2, the Rockets would’ve won it all last season.
CP3 averaged 18.6 points, 7.9 assists and 5.4 rebounds per game last season, and his defensive mentality helped push the Rockets to become a top-10 team defensively. Prior to Paul joining the squad, the Rockets finished 18th in the NBA with a 106.4 defensive rating. In his first year in Houston, the team improved their defensive rating to 103.8, ranking sixth in the league.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS...RUN IT BACK 🤘🏾🚀 pic.twitter.com/KwWcsp6lx6
— Chris Paul (@CP3) July 1, 2018
The duo of Harden and Paul proved effective. As demonstrated last year, coach Mike D’Antoni has options with two Hall of Fame guards on the roster. He has the capability to play them together, or at times he can play them separately. Often times last season, Paul played against opposing team’s second unit guards, which gave the Rockets a supreme advantage.
If Houston can re-sign restricted free agent Clint Capela, it will be one of the favorites once again in the Western Conference. The three-headed monster at the guard position of Harden, Paul and Eric Gordon is one of the most elite units in the NBA.
It’s not common for a player at Chris Paul’s age to receive max money. At 33 years old, this agreement will keep him in Houston until he’s 37. Management has to be worried about diminishing returns. Most players at his age experience a decline in production. Perhaps Paul is seemingly ageless like LeBron James, but it’s doubtful.
Throughout his career, Paul has struggled consistently with injuries. He’s only played a full 82 games once in his 13-year career. He missed significant time last year in Houston due to various injuries, and was only available for 58 games in the regular season.
As mentioned earlier, a prime example of his history with injuries happened in Game 5 of the 2018 Western Conference playoffs. Paul injured his hamstring for the second time in 2018, and it was his fifth hamstring injury since 2015.
However, Houston is in win-now mode. It figured out the formula last year to compete, and possibly defeat Golden State. Harden is in the midst of the prime of his career, and re-signing Paul was essential to compete in the Western Conference. He is still an elite guard at 33, and if healthy, will keep the Rockets in the championship hunt the next couple of years.
Next: 2018 NBA free agency tracker: Grades for every deal so far
Grade: A+