Houston Rockets Re-Sign Forward Jae’Sean Tate

On Wednesday, the Houston Rockets officially announced the signing of forward Jae’Sean Tate. The contract terms have been reported to be for three years at $22.1 million, paying Tate an annual average salary of $7.37 million per season. Keith Smith of Spotrac reports that while the contract runs through the 2024-2025 season, the final year is a team option.

Per Smith, the contract has a “raise-decline-raise” structure, with Tate slated to earn $7.1 million in 2022-2023, $6.5 million in 2023-2024, and $7.1 million in 2024-2025. The deal also reportedly includes $1.5 million in unlikely incentives.

The Rockets had earlier declined the team option on Tate’s contract for this upcoming season. If exercised, Tate would have earned $1.8 million in 2022-2023. Tate’s market was depressed this summer in part due to the collective bargaining agreement’s “Gilbert Arenas” provision. Starting with the 2005 collective bargaining agreement, the provision was added to address a loophole whereby it was sometimes possible for teams to sign restricted free agents to offer sheets their original teams could not match.

The provision limits teams in the salary they can offer in an offer sheet to a restricted free agent with one or two years in the league. The primary limitation is that the first-year salary in the offer sheet cannot be greater than the non-taxpayer mid-level exception. This enables the player’s original team to match the offer sheet. The non-taxpayer mid-level exception for 2022-2023 is $10.49 million.

In two seasons with the Rockets, Tate has averaged 11.6 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per game. He has shot 50.1% overall from the floor and 31.0% from three-point distance. Aside from his struggles from long-distance, Tate checks off almost every box for a modern NBA wing – he can defend all five positions, make plays off the dribble, and is relentless. But the shooting is a gaping weakness that will need to be improved upon for Tate to reach his ultimate potential.

Next season, Tate figures to slot next to incoming rookie Jabari Smith Jr., the third overall pick in this summer’s draft and sophomore center Alperen Sengun in the frontcourt in the Rockets’ starting lineup. It helps that Smith projects to be a deadly long-distance shooter.

For now, Houston brings back a valuable contributor to an extremely team-friendly deal for the next few seasons.