Will/Should Chris Paul Resign with The Rockets?
Chris Paul has been traded to the Houston Rockets for 6 months already, which means now, the Rockets could offer an extension contract to Paul in advance. However, Paul is not considering signing the extension any time soon and he is not interested in signing an extension.
He said, "I have not been signing any extension in my career. Neither when I was in (New Orleans) Hornets, nor in (Los Angeles) Clippers." According to Paul, he is not in a hurry to sign an extension.
If Paul signs an extension now, he will get a 4-year $132 Million contract from the Rockets. However, if Paul decides to wait until the summer, it will be a new contract between him and the Houston Rockets instead of an extension.
To the Rockets, Paul is a very important player. This season, the Rockets won 15 games out of 17 games when Paul was on the court. When Paul played for more than 26 minutes, the Rockets won all 13 games. For this, Houston Rockets head coach Mike D'Antoni and the general manager Daryl Morey both say that the team chemistry that Paul and Harden had already built was faster than what they thought. Morey said, "Paul was born for the offense."
However, in the 3 months that Paul had played for the Rockets, he encountered 2 injuries, which caused him to miss 17 games this season. For now, Morey is not worrying about the injuries. His attitude towards offering a long-term contract to Paul is not changing either. But Morey refuses to reveal any information about the contract with Paul. The only thing he does is indicating that the earlier injuries that Paul encountered will not affect his willingness to retain Paul as the Rockets' point guard.
If Paul waits until the summer, he has the chance to sign a maximum 5-year $205 Million contract with the Rockets.As we can see, there were many players who played like Paul made it into the Hall of Fame. This is because they were not playing with their physical conditions. Rather, they were playing with their high basketball IQ.
According to the Rockets, while having Paul and Harden in the same team, all they want to do is to retain them. If they make everything looks perfect, Paul's decision will be very easy, which is to stay with the Rockets.
The reason why the Rockets value Paul is that they value Harden as well, especially in the playoffs. If the Rockets have Paul in the team, it will reduce the burden that Harden has to carry in the playoffs. For this, D'Antoni said, "We have been asking too much from Harden, which is why we are waiting for Paul."