Monday at 6:00pm was the deadline for rookie players in the 2021 draft class to sign extensions before entering free agency. Unfortunately, Houston was only able to secure an extension for forward Jabari Smith Jr. and not forward Tari Eason, but perhaps there’s more to the situation than meets the eye.
There was mutual interest between Houston and Tari Eason, but both sides were unable to agree to an extension. [According to Brian Windhorst](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5DAdMd9AII), Tari was offered an extension and he said it was “A strong offer. It was an excess of $100 million, but I don’t know how much of that would have been guaranteed,”My guess is Rafael Stone offered Tari an extension similar to the one Kevin Porter Jr. signed. For those who may not remember the Kevin Porter Jr. contact, it was a four-year $82.5 million contact, but only the first year was fully guaranteed. This was because although Porter jr. was talented, his off the court issues and attitude raised questions to fans and front offices alike.Obviously, the circumstances for Tari are different, but I can imagine that the contract had partial guarantees with more money being paid if Tari reached a certain amount of games played. Tari Eason was an iron man in his rookie season playing all 82 games, but in the following season Eason played just 22 games before having season ending surgery leg surgery in March due to a previously benign growth on his left shin becoming symptomatic after Eason was bumped there during preseason. Eason returned to the lineup in January of the following season, but was on a minutes restriction and did not play back-to-backs, which led him to play only 57 games in the 2024-2025 season. Although it’s widely regarded that Eason’s injury was somewhat of a freak accident it has caused teams to question his long-term durability.
What do you think? Should Eason have taken the extension, or is it too hard to judge him without knowing the numbers on the contract? While I’m disappointed no deal got done, I truly wish the best for Tari in his career, whether he ends up staying a Rocket or not. You can catch Eason and the rest of the team tonight at 7:00pm versus the Detroit Pistons for Houston’s home opener.