The Houston Rockets were already positioned to have approximately $60 million in salary cap space in a pivotal 2023 offseason, and now they appear poised to add roughly $2.5 million more thanks to Kevin Porter Jr. sitting out Sunday’s 2022-23 finale in Washington.
On the team’s injury/status report, Porter is officially listed as out for Sunday with a sore right knee. By missing the game, the 22-year-old guard will finish this season with 59 games played, which is one short of the 60 that — by his next contract terms — would make next season’s $2.4-million bonus for games played considered “likely.” If deemed unlikely, that figure does not count on Houston’s salary cap.
There are no implications to Porter’s actual salary next season, since that will depend on how many games he plays in the coming year. Rather, the implications are strictly to Houston’s salary-cap picture this offseason, since bonuses are considered “likely” or “unlikely” to convey based on figures from previous seasons.
Thus, intentional or not, it’s a positive development for Houston’s offseason flexibility in a summer in which they could be targeting former star James Harden in free agency, among others.
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Story originally appeared on Rockets Wire