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Bobby Marks: The Thompson brothers (Amen and Ausar) now have a combined $439m in on court earnings. The salary ranks first among all twins.
Shams Charania: Twins Ausar and Amen Thompson are now the first pair of brothers in NBA history to each receive a $100 million deal. They have signed for a total of $363 million this offseason.
Kevin Durant missed Game 1 suddenly, then he missed the rest of the series after his lone appearance in Game 2 because of an ankle sprain. The Rockets won two games without their superstar, but the team was entirely too dependent on him, which made winning the series too tall of a mountain to climb. Houston had a good year with Durant in the mix—earning the fifth seed in the Western Conference and falling just two games shy of No. 3. But the Rockets were “way too reliant” on Durant, an anonymous NBA scout told Sports Illustrated. The good news is that reinforcements are coming. “Getting Fred VanVleet back will be big,” the scout said. “He's going to be better than Reed Sheppard was last year. Not that Sheppard was that bad, but, Fred's a better creator. He's a better paint threat guy off the dribble. He may not be a better catch-and-shoot three-point shooter, but he's more adept at getting it off in the pick-and-roll. So they have a couple guys that can set screens, especially if Steven Adams is healthy. So I think he'll be a weapon for them that they didn't have.”
Brian Windhorst: Unfortunately the war [in Iran] made Abu Dhabi not happen this year. And so I basically said, ‘Can I still do this because Macau—the Vegas Sands was interested in hosting—and ESPN Australia has NBA rights as legacy from the 20th Century Fox deal.’ So I’m going to go down and do one at a venue in Melbourne on a Friday night, October 2nd, and we’re going to be at this place called Courtside Melbourne. They have courts and shops and restaurants, and it’s like a basketball hub in Melbourne. And I’m going to attend a Melbourne United versus Cairns Taipans game, and I’m going to be a part of the broadcast. And then I’m going to go to Manila, and in Manila, where Disney+ has the NBA rights. We’re going to do a bunch of promotion in Manila and have a podcast on October 5th with some guests at all these places. And then we’re going to go to Macau. There’s two games in Macau on the 9th and 11th, and on the 10th in between, we’re going to do a live event at the Venetian in Macau. So I’ll have guests from the Rockets and Mavericks and other NBA people on.
Trez, how was your workout on September 12th with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, the Houston Rockets’ G League affiliate, as you make your attempt back to the NBA? Montrezl Harrell: Overall, I’m not going to lie, it was good, man. I was able to get down there, get a couple of rounds in and the workout that I had post-practice with the coaching staff went really well.
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Michael Porter Jr.: "KD is a good dude, but he is known for having burners, so who knows. People, everything with AI, with this, with that, you don't know what's real. So, I'm not about to say it's for sure him without knowing for sure. But like if I had a teammate and like a group chat came out where my teammate was talking crazy about all of us, that would be wild though."
Mike Vorkunov: Myles Turner has been elected as a VP on the NBPA Executive Committee. He replaced Garrett Temple, who retired. This is now the full NBPA executive committee: • Fred VanVleet, President • Grant Williams, First Vice President • Mason Plumlee, Secretary-Treasurer • Karl-Anthony Towns, Vice President • Santi Aldama, Vice President • Jaylen Brown, Vice President • Trey Murphy III, Vice President • Myles Turner, Vice President • Gabe Vincent, Vice President
"Who was your inspiration? Who did you watch and be like, I like how he plays, I want to integrate that into my game?" Derik Queen: "Really James Harden. When I wanted to learn how to dribble, he was on the Rockets doing his one-on-one stuff. Even Oklahoma City, I caught the later years of OKC. But when he was on the Rockets, he just used to do his one-on-one and I was just like, I want to do that. Him and LeBron are my favorite players. LeBron, I'm not athletic like him, but all three of us can pass. Those two were my favorite, so I just try to play like them, but at a different size and I'm not fast like them. I still fry you though."
Lachard Binkley: This past weekend former Houston Rocket Montrezl Harrell took part in the RGV tryouts. Harrell started his career with the Vipers in the 2015-16 playing two seasons with the Rockets. Of course Harrell was part of the blockbuster trade that brought Chris Paul to the Rockets. Harrell played on several team’s including overseas and also played in the BIG3.
Big Sarge Media: “It was pretty easy, said Houston Rockets GM Rafael Stone about getting the 5-year, $208 million contract extension done for G/F Amen Thompson. “He wants to be here and we want to be with him.” #Rockets #Sarge @TheRocketsWire
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Marcus Smart was simply ready to move on and pursue a new chapter outside the Los Angeles Lakers. Lakers insider Jovan Buha shared key details about the veteran guard's departure in a recent appearance on Third Apron. "I don't have great clarity on this, and there are differing accounts of how it all went down, but my understanding is that to some degree, Smart was ready to move forward in a different situation," Buha said.
Chancellor Johnson: The Rockets hired renowned shooting coach Chip Engelland over the offseason. Asked Ime Udoka about his addition. Turns out, Udoka wasn’t quite nice enough to get Engelland’s help during his playing days. “I always joke that I wasn’t big time enough for him to help me with my jump shot. He was always busy Tony Parker and Kawhi and everybody.”
Franchise Segun: Rockets GM Rafael Stone on visiting Alperen Şengün in Türkiye: "We had some good conversations at the end of last year. Part of it was Alpi putting pressure on me [to communicate better]." Stone added that Şengün specifically asked to hear from him more often, whether it was "good, bad, or ugly."
Lachard Binkley: Here Ime Udoka talks about seeing Fred VanVleet back on the court. “It’s great in the last month or so he has really ramped it up in San Diego doing his rehab.”