Hoosiers Now

Hoosiers In The Pros: What Do The Rockets Do With Eric Gordon?

Eric Gordon is locked up through the 2023 season with the Rockets.

Ben Stinar

The Houston Rockets (17-55) finished with the worst record in all of basketball this past season. 

After being an NBA contender the past several seasons with Chris Paul and James Harden and then Russell Westbrook and Harden, they hit the reset button this season trading Harden.

However, Eric Gordon (former Indiana Hoosier) and 32-year-old NBA veteran is on the books through the 2023 NBA season.

A full look at Gordon's contract can be seen here from HoopsHype.

Gordon will make over $18 million next season and over $19 million the season after. Although, according to HoopsHype, the last year of his contract will not be guaranteed unless he meets specific criteria.

Even if the final year does not get exercised, Gordon is still a costly role player, and the Rockets are a different team than he initially joined in 2016-17.

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This past season, he was still effective averaging 17.8 points per game, but he only played in 27 games. The year before that, he averaged 14.4 points per game but only played in 36 games.

Therefore, Gordon is expensive and on the latter half of his career, and he has also been super injury-prone. 

Those ingredients do not fit a team like the Rockets, who will start a youth movement and build through the draft to rebuild themselves from the Harden era.

The question will now become what should they do with him? 

Trading him will be challenging due to his salary, and the only other option would be a buy-out if he were willing to give back some money.

Keeping tabs on what the Rockets do with Gordon will be an intriguing storyline heading into next season. 

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Ben Stinar
BEN STINAR

Ben Stinar is a freelance basketball writer for HoosiersNow.com. He is a 2020 graduate of Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind. You can follow Ben on Twitter @BenStinar.

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