Kevin Pelton
The NBA’s offseason is here, and teams are making moves to fill their rosters for the 2025-26 season.
The Houston Rockets, who also added Kevin Durant in a blockbuster trade, got things started by agreeing to a three-year $39 million contract extension with center Steven Adams. The move comes after Adams had a strong season as the backup center for the Western Conference’s No. 2 seed.
With the draft (Wednesday and Thursday, June 25 and 26) and free agency (opening June 30 at 6 p.m. ET) closing in, the signings should come fast and often. As deals become official, we’re grading the moves and examining what each means for the 2025-26 season and beyond.
MORE: Trade grades | Offseason news and buzz
The most interesting element of this extension is the timing. Conventional wisdom had it that Gafford could be a trade candidate this summer, given the Mavericks’ crowded depth chart at center, where younger Dereck Lively II is the team’s starter of the future and starting power forward Anthony Davis is also capable of — and perhaps best suited for — playing the 5.
There’s little question that Gafford merits a raise coming off the best season of his NBA career. Having excelled defensively in a platoon with Lively as Dallas reached the 2024 NBA Finals, Gafford got a chance to play extended minutes between when Lively went down with a stress fracture in his right ankle in January and his own knee sprain in February.
During 11 full games in that span, Gafford averaged 15.0 PPG on 67% shooting, 10.3 RPG and 3.6 BPG, the last of which would have threatened Victor Wembanyama (3.8 BPG) for tops in the NBA. Typically just a finisher on offense, Gafford even created in the post with the team battling multiple injuries. His 52 post-ups last season was a career high, per GeniusIQ tracking, although Gafford’s efficiency on those plays wasn’t especially strong.
Besides the limitations on Gafford’s role with the Mavericks, a trade now also makes sense because this could be the peak of his performance. Gafford will be 27 in October, and while his size won’t fade, Gafford might not remain such a strong above-the-rim threat as he nears his 30s.
Based on those factors, it was important for Dallas to craft an extension with a maximum 20% raise in 2026-27 (a starting salary of $17.3 million) and 5% annual raises that fits restrictions on extend-and-trade deals. By virtue of apparently staying within that, the Mavericks can trade Gafford as soon as he signs the extension — or, hypothetically, even before then.
Having Gafford under contract an additional three seasons shouldn’t hurt his trade value at all. This extension pays him barely more than the expected 2026-27 non-taxpayer midlevel exception of $15.5 million, and Gafford has easily outpaced that in terms of value thus far. From his perspective, locking in his deal a year ahead of time does take injury risk off the table. So I’d consider this move a win-win.
The next question is which teams could be in the market for Gafford. He’s an obvious fit for the Los Angeles Lakers, having demonstrated his comfort running pick-and-rolls with Luka Doncic, but that idea seems triggering for already aggrieved Dallas fans. Gafford would be a sensible target for the guard-heavy Phoenix Suns, though finding workable matching salary is a challenge unless the Suns get under the second apron.
If the New Orleans Pelicans aren’t convinced Yves Missi is a starting-caliber center at this stage of his development, Gafford would be a huge offensive upgrade. I’d also consider a return to Gafford’s original team, the Chicago Bulls, and the San Antonio Spurs as wild-card possibilities.
Of course, the Mavericks may just hold on to Gafford. After all, they spent much of the second half of last season with none of their three starting-caliber centers healthy, so there is value in having depth at the position. And it would be challenging for another would-be contender to offer the perimeter help Dallas seeks, meaning a Gafford trade would most likely need to involve at least three teams.
We’re off and running on the 2025 offseason with games still to play in the NBA Finals. Teams aren’t allowed to negotiate new contracts with their own free agents until the day after the Finals end, but they can strike extensions with eligible players in the last year of their contracts at any point up to June 30.
Acquired by the Rockets at the 2024 trade deadline while still recovering from season-ending PCL surgery, Adams initially served as a veteran mentor on a young team and a backup to All-Star center Alperen Sengun. His role expanded considerably in the playoffs, when lineups featuring both Adams and Sengun unexpectedly became key to Houston taking the Golden State Warriors the distance after falling behind 3-1 in the series.
Whether alongside Sengun or as the team’s lone center, Adams reached a level in the playoffs that we haven’t seen since early in his career. Adams blocked 1.9 shots per 36 minutes, surpassing his best regular-season mark (1.7). And his 60% shooting was way up from 55% during the 2024-25 regular season. My wins above replacement player metric rated Adams the team’s fourth-most valuable player in the series, ahead of starters Dillon Brooks and Jalen Green.
Given that the size and strength that make Adams a dominant offensive rebounder aren’t going anywhere, the kind of agility we saw against the Warriors will make him a valuable player for the Rockets as long as he stays healthy.
Before the PCL injury that cost him the 2023 playoffs and all of 2023-24, Adams had been remarkably durable, playing 76 of 82 games in 2021-22. And Houston will surely be careful with Adams’ workload. Although Adams was cleared to play both ends of back-to-back games midway through last season, the Rockets continued to give him one of the games off because of how he recovers after playing the night before.
Bringing back Adams on a contract in the $13 million range — a little less than the $14.1 million non-taxpayer midlevel that is the most other teams could have realistically offered — does push Houston into the luxury tax if the team exercises Fred VanVleet‘s $44.9 million team option. And even if the Rockets waive two players with non-guaranteed deals (Jock Landale, at $8 million, and Nate Williams at the minimum), they’d edge over the lower luxury tax apron by filling out the roster in that scenario.
Alternatively, Houston could decline the option and try to bring back VanVleet at a smaller starting salary on a longer-term deal that would guarantee him more money at age 31. That decision could be influenced by what other moves the Rockets have cooking. Their tax situation makes it seem unlikely Houston will add a free agent making more than the $5.7 million taxpayer midlevel, but the Rockets could make more substantial moves via trade.
Per ESPN’s Bobby Marks, Houston has until June 29 to decide on VanVleet’s player option. Barring a blockbuster trade, VanVleet will almost certainly be back, meaning Adams’ new contract gives the Rockets a chance to return the entire core that claimed the No. 2 seed in the West.