Veterans Jeff Green, Jae’Sean Tate, and Aaron Holiday might need to take paycuts in order to return to the Rockets in 2025-26, per Kelly Iko of The Athletic.
The Rockets will be a much more expensive team in the NBA’s 2025-26 season, owing largely to salary increases for Alperen Sengun and Jalen Green. Depending on moves this offseason, Houston could be in luxury tax territory.
The Rockets also have at least two younger prospects — Reed Sheppard and Cam Whitmore — that they would like to find more minutes for.
With those types of considerations in mind, the 2025-26 Rockets might not have as much room in the budget for veteran players near the end of the bench.
In 2024-25, Jeff Green, Jae’Sean Tate, and Aaron Holiday made $8.0 million, $7.6 million, and $4.7 million, respectively. While Houston seems to have some level of interest in retaining each of them, it might require a paycut for those players to stick around.
Per Kelly Iko of The Athletic:
A larger chunk of playing time for Sheppard would diminish veteran Aaron Holiday’s role. Holiday emerged as a trusted option under Udoka over the past two seasons. He has a $4.9 million team option for next season, but the Rockets, who have expressed a desire to retain him, would likely wait and see how the rest of the roster pans out, along with the market, before circling back. Jeff Green and Tate, both of whom Houston is fond of, fall into a similar category. There’s a possibility that only veteran minimum contracts would be available.
Green recently expressed interest in a return, and Tate is a five-year NBA veteran who has only played for the Rockets over that time. All three are beloved in Houston’s locker room and looked upon fondly as veteran leaders and mentors.
Green was a consistent rotation player as recently as 2023-24, and Tate and Holiday had rotation stints in 2024-25. The latter two are accomplished defensively, where Houston ranked in the NBA’s top five last season. So, there is definitely appeal to having them around as insurance options for head coach Ime Udoka.
However, because of the changing composition of the roster around them, each might need to take a paycut in order to stick around. Time will tell if they choose to do so. The Rockets are allowed to negotiate with their own free agents as soon as the 2025 NBA Finals conclude, and negotiations with other teams and players across the league can begin on June 30.
Minimum salaries are slotted according to NBA experience, though even the highest (for a player with 10+ years of experience, such as Green) is still below $4 million annually. For Green and Tate, a minimum deal would be less than half of their 2024-25 salary.