Daishen Nix Contract Conversion Adds To Houston Rockets’ Young Core

The Houston Rockets announced recently that they had converted the two-way contract of rookie Daishen Nix to a standard NBA deal. The move to secure Nix adds to Houston’s already impressive core of young backcourt prospects, already including rookies Jalen Green and Josh Christopher, and 21-year-old Kevin Porter Jr.

Nix signed a four-year, $6 million contract, the first two years of which will be fully guaranteed. The second two seasons will be non-guaranteed. The key distinction with this contract to others agreed to by the Rockets with this same structure is that the second year in this case is guaranteed, in addition to the first year.

Per spotrac.com, the annual breakdown is as follows: $292,466 in year one; $1.563 million in year two; $1.836 million in year three; and $1.988 million in year four. The first season figure is the rookie pro-rated minimum for a rest-of-season contract signed on February 15. The subsequent amounts are for the pre-set minimum amounts based upon years of service, pursuant to the rules of the league’s collective bargaining agreement.

The Rockets presumably utilized what was remaining from their 2021-2022 mid-level exception to consummate the transaction, much in the same way that it was utilized earlier in the year to sign guard Armoni Brooks and forward Garrison Mathews to their respective contracts.

As part of the G League Ignite, Nix averaged 22.8 points, 7.3 assists, 6.1 rebounds, and 2.3 steals in fifteen games played in 2021-2022, in 34.8 minutes per game. He shot 50% from the floor, 40.3% from 3 (on 4.5 attempts per game).

Prior to the Rockets converting Nix’s contract, Rockets head coach Stephen Silas said, “[Houston Rockets general manager] Rafael [Stone] is like ‘You need to watch this kid play.’ He is physical. He is a point guard, for sure. He makes those around him better. He can get downhill. He’s shooting the ball a lot better than we had expected or thought that he could.”

The Rockets appear inclined to bring Nix along slowly, given the logjam of youth already extant in the backcourt. The addition of veteran point guard Dennis Schroder at the trade deadline—acquired in a trade with Boston—have made minutes even harder to come by. Christopher, who had been averaging 20.9 minutes per game in his last 32 games (after cracking the rotation) played just nine and eleven minutes respectively in the two games following the trade.

Porter is currently the starter for the time being, but he too is in the midst of learning the point guard position, with the team prioritizing his development this season. The organization can afford to take its time on Nix who is now under contract for the next four years.