The Houston Rockets season ended in the Conference Finals with Chris Paul as the spectator – the Point Guard had injured himself in Game 5 of the series and could not intervene afterwards. Rockets-GM Daryl Morey has now made a very clear statement about Paul’s future.
Paul’s contract is expiring and due to the already high cost of the Rockets squad, there had recently been some skepticism about Houston’s ability to keep the team together that had won the most regular season this season. Paul is also 33 years old and has missed games regularly in recent years with minor injuries.
However, the meeting with Morey and head coach Mike D’Antoni was very positive, as the general manager told the Houston Chronicle: “He took the defeat the hardest of all players because he knew that without this stupid injury he could have given us that final push towards the finals. He has experienced this several times in his career.”
But they had already decided together that this was not the last chance: “Yes, he took it hard. But you know what, he’ll be back. He’ll be back 100 percent and then we’ll be ready.”
Paul can negotiate with the Rockets and other teams from July 1st. The nine-time All-Star played 58 games for Houston this season, scoring 18.6 points and 7.9 assists on average.