CBS: Rockets GM Rafael Stone is NBA's best negotiator

USA Today

2 days ago

'This is contract sorcery,' CBS Sports' Sam Quinn says in his evaluation of Houston's recent transactions. Quinn ranks the Rockets as having the NBA's fourth-best front office.
The outlook for the Houston Rockets continues to improve, both for the 2025-26 NBA season and well into the future.
With that comes respect for the front office, which has transitioned Houston from rebuild into contender during recent years.
In his latest front-office rankings, Sam Quinn of CBS Sports ranks the Rockets at No. 4 overall — up from No. 9 in his previous February rankings. His explanation:
Rafael Stone is the NBA's best negotiator. He not only convinced Alperen Sengun to re-sign at a number below the max, but to take less than the maximum allowable 8% raises. Dorian Finney-Smith was the second-best 3-and-D wing on the free-agent market. How did Stone convince him to take only two guaranteed seasons?
Steven Adams is on a descending-salary contract. Jabari Smith's extension includes an immediate descent, meaning his salary doesn't actually increase until the fourth season of the deal. Clint Capela passed up chances to start so he could be Houston's third center at only slightly above taxpayer mid-level money. All it took for him to convince Fred VanVleet to give up $20 million this season was a player option for next season. This is contract sorcery.
For the Rockets, many of those descending-salary arrangements are likely to make room for a heightened payroll in 2027-28 — when rising star Amen Thompson is almost certain to be starting a maximum-salaried contract.
Even though that date is two-plus years away, Houston's front office is already planning ahead.
But as Quinn notes, there's more to the story than finances. He continues:
Stone isn't just a brilliant accountant, though. He's built an almost impossibly deep and versatile team. The Rockets barely even used No. 3 overall pick Reed Sheppard last year. They doubled down on their two-big lineups by adding Capela to Sengun and Adams, but with Smith and Kevin Durant, they can just as easily play five-out, no-big lineups if the matchup demands it. Speaking of Durant, they landed a top-20 player in NBA history that fills their biggest need by far without sacrificing much of anything for the long haul. Durant is a Jalen Green replacement. Finney-Smith fills in for Dillon Brooks. They lost the No. 10 pick but, as Sheppard showed, they didn't have minutes for that pick anyway, and besides, they kept their more valuable draft assets (Phoenix's pick in 2027, Phoenix and Dallas' picks in 2029, swap rights with Brooklyn in 2027) out of the deal.
They don't have their own Shai Gilgeous-Alexander yet. They may never develop a homegrown MVP candidate. But otherwise, they've mimicked the strategy executed by Oklahoma City better than any team in the NBA, and now figure to challenge the Thunder for years to come.
Appropriately, it's those defending champion Thunder who are at No. 1 on the list.
Meanwhile, the Pelicans — a Southwest Division rival of the Rockets — are dead last at No. 30. To say the least, New Orleans' controversial draft-night trade with the Atlanta Hawks likely played a big role in that assessment.
The complete front office rankings can be read here.