Rockets’ Fred VanVleet to pick up $25 million player option: Sources
NBA Offseason
LIVE
Free Agency Updates1m ago
Trades We’d LikePower Forward MarketTop Point Guard OptionsCenter DepthRockets’ Fred VanVleet to pick up $25 million player option: Sources
The Rockets' point guard missed all of last season with a knee injury. Gary A. Vasquez / Imagn Images
By William Guillory and David AldridgeJune 29, 2026 Updated 9:40 am EDTHouston Rockets guard Fred VanVleet has exercised his $25 million player option for the 2026-27 season, team sources told The Athletic.
The veteran point guard could’ve declined his option and become an unrestricted free agent. Instead, he chose to stick around for one more season and remain a pivotal on- and off-court figure in Houston, according to the sources who requested anonymity to discuss the deal. He would have been the 20th-ranked free agent on The Athletic’s big board.
VanVleet, 32, was already highly regarded by the Rockets before this past season, but his importance became more evident as he missed the 2025-26 season with a torn right ACL suffered in a team minicamp in the Bahamas just before the start of the preseason. The Rockets struggled with guard play all season and lost in the first round of the playoffs despite adding Kevin Durant last summer.
VanVleet recently revealed that his knee injury was more damaging than initially reported and required surgery to repair the ACL and meniscus.
“My knee exploded,” VanVleet said on a recent episode of his Unguarded podcast.
It’s still unclear how healthy he’ll be once next season’s training camp begins.
Before his ACL injury, VanVleet played at least 50 games in eight of his first nine NBA seasons and gained a reputation as a big-shot maker and reliable on-ball presence.
He joined the Rockets in 2023 after signing a three-year, $130 million deal before subsequently signing a two-year, $50 million extension in the summer of 2025.
VanVleet’s arrival in 2023 marked a change in direction for Houston, which had lost at least 55 games in the previous three seasons. VanVleet helped the Rockets go 41-41 in his first season, then played a major role on a Rockets team that won 52 games and went into the playoffs as the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference.
During that 2024-25 season, VanVleet averaged 14.1 points, 5.6 assists and 1.6 steals while shooting 37.8 percent from the field and 34.5 percent from the 3-point line. He took on an even bigger role in the playoffs as Houston battled with the Golden State Warriors in an emotional series that eventually ended with Houston losing Game 7 at home. In that series, VanVleet averaged 18.7 points, 4.1 rebounds and 4.4 assists.
Without VanVleet in the lineup last season, the Rockets had to rely more on third-year guard Amen Thompson and second-year guard Reed Sheppard to handle the point guard duties. The results were often uneven as Thompson and Sheppard struggled to manage the responsibilities that come with running a team.
Getting a healthy VanVleet back should help the Rockets maintain their position as one of the top contenders in the West, and will almost certainly make life easier for Durant and Alperen Şengün when the game slows down.
VanVleet’s return will also give the Rockets an important boost from the 3-point line, which will provide some much-needed spacing for an offense that was hard to watch at times last season, especially in late-game situations. In two seasons with the Rockets, VanVleet has made 386 3-pointers.
With VanVleet under contract, Houston has nearly all of its most important rotation players under contract for the 2026-27 season. The biggest thing the Rockets need to address now is the restricted free agency of fourth-year forward Tari Eason.
With VanVleet’s $25 million figure on the books, Houston has about $20 million to re-sign Eason and fill out the rest of the roster before reaching the first apron. It’ll be a tight financial crunch for the Rockets, but general manager Rafael Stone has previously stated he would prefer to bring Eason back on a new deal.
Jun 29, 2026Connections: Sports Edition
Spot the pattern. Connect the terms
Find the hidden link between sports terms
Badenoch blasts 'moaning' female Labour MPs over Burnham jobs 'quota'
Kemi Badenoch has told Labour women to earn a job in Andy Burnham's Cabinet instead of demanding they are handed jobs because of their gender.
The Tory leader lashed out today amid reports that female MPs are demanding the de-facto new prime minister introduce a 50:50 gender split 'quota' in his government.
Amid reports that former foreign secretary David Miliband is being lined up to return to the role, possibly with his brother Ed as Chancellor, one female minister also complained that Burnham could not have 'more Milibands than women' in the top posts.
But in a scathing article in the Times today Mrs Badenoch told them to 'stop moaning' and get chosen on merit instead of retreating into 'more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country'.
'There are many, many reasons why you shouldn't have any Milibands in the cabinet,' she said.
'But complaining that the boys haven't given them the right jobs or that the boys are taking all the jobs, just shows that Labour's women still don't get it.'
The idea of quotas was also attacked by Baroness Jacqui Smith, Labour's Skills Minister.
Asked by Times Radio if Mr Burnham should reserve jobs for women, she said: 'No, I think what Andy Burnham should be doing is building the very best team around him to change this country.'
A letter written by the Women's Parliamentary Labour Party has called on Mr Burnham to ensure a 50:50 split between men and women in government jobs
Amid reports that former foreign secretary David Miliband (above, right, in 2010) is being lined up to return to the role, possibly with his brother Ed as Chancellor, one female minister complained that Burnham could not have 'more Milibands than women' in the top posts
But Mrs Badenoch told them to pipe down and get chosen on merit instead of retreating into 'more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country'
A letter written by the Women's Parliamentary Labour Party and seen by the BBC has called on Mr Burnham to ensure a 50:50 split between men and women in government jobs after he succeeds Sir Keir Starmer.
'We are asking you to demonstrate this change from day one and address the toxicity and misogyny within our own party and government,' it said.
Labour has never had a female leader, while the Conservatives have had three, and Mrs Badenoch urged the government to follow its meritocratic example.
'If you run a meritocracy, then you do not have to worry about jobs for the boys,' she wrote.
'Every woman who is a Conservative MP, every woman who has ever won the leadership, has had to fight to get where she is.
'By contrast, Labour women are demanding guarantees from Burnham. But the truth is he doesn't have to give any guarantees.
'If none of Labour's women are prepared to get their hands dirty and challenge him for the leadership, their demands are toothless.'
'In fact, it's quite revealing that the women's parliamentary Labour Party has written to Burnham asking him to commit himself to at least 50 per cent female ministers.
'This has nothing to do with meritocracy. It is yet more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country.'
