October 20, 2025 • 9 mins
Wex and AC react to the Kevin Durant extension with the Rockets and his reasoning behind saving money by taking less. Was this a move to help Houston win a title faster with him on staff? How does this help with future contracts that are essential to the team's long-term success
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I guess I figured the Katie extension would happen somewhere
in this this time period, meaning the few days and
hours before the season tipped off.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
But I guess he didn't have to, did it.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
I mean, you're saying, yeah, it did, and honestly it
did because of the way that they spoke about it
made no sense for it not to happen before he
got here. He already knew he was getting an extension,
He already knew how much he was getting, just a
matter of ironing it all out. I think that's what
was said from all different parties, and you know, that's
essentially It's one additional reason why I think he likes
it here because I think the communication has been very
(00:34):
very clear from the jump.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Here's here's what we want to do.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
And I think it was initially broached maybe he liked it,
maybe he didn't, and maybe his agents liked it, maybe
they didn't, but initially broached that you're worth every single
penny you can get. I mean, you're one of the
best players in the league still to this day. If
you want a full two year, one hundred and twenty
two million dollar extension, which you're absolutely well within your
right to ask for We're probably not going to have
(01:00):
as good a basketball team during the time that you
are here. I mean, we might, things might work out,
but it's not going to make it easier for us
to do it. I'm sure that that was put up
and made clear from the beginning. Doesn't mean that they
might not have done it, but it doesn't make it
I mean, clearly, financially, we know what it means for
Kevin Durant, but what it financially means for the Rockets
is that the money will still be spent. It just
(01:21):
won't all be spent on one player. It will now
be spent on others. And we, like many other people
around the NBA, are awaiting word that the Rockets will
in fact reach an agreement with Tarry Easton before five
o'clock today, largely because instead of two years, one hundred
and twenty two million for Kevin Durant for another two
seasons after this year, it's two years ninety million.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
You know.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Amn Thompson was joking about it yesterday saying, Oh, he's
a generous guy, he's a cool guy, so that it's
nice for him to do. I mean, and Kevin Durant
doing Kevin Durant things, as he said he was getting
his shot of dopamine yesterday because all he had to
go on to the X platform, still referred to by
him as Twitter of course, to question people saying, uh,
(02:00):
I don't know if I would call this a sacrifice.
I don't know what else there is to call it.
If he wanted to earn that money, he would have
been sacrificing his basketball instead of his pocketbook because he
could have one hundred percent. There was a team out
there that would have thought, this is good for our organization,
it's good for us, it's good for our brand.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Yeah, all of that, we might even win.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
So yeah, we'll be a team that says, if you
want to come here and we'll make it, we'll make
it worth your while because we'll give you every single penny.
The Rockets weren't one of those teams they said, if
you want to come here, we want you here because
we've been trying to get you here and now we
just want to make it work where we will be
able to win. So, yes, there's a sacrifice there, and
look around his locker room. Alprin shan Gun signed a
(02:42):
five year extension while sacrificing money. Jabari Smith Junior signed
a five year extension while sacrificing money, there's more money
to be earned. Almost every single time when you hit
the market. I can't guarantee you that Jabari Smith Junior
becomes an unrestricted free agent and another team wants to
give him more than what the Rockets gave him. Same
(03:03):
thing with Alprint. I can't guarantee those things.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
But they can offer him to drive up the price.
What I'm saying agency.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Logically makes sense that that's what would happen. It logically
makes sense that there is more money to be or.
I mean, Jalen Green's no different the same thing with
that contract. So on this team, he's doing what his
teammates have done, and Tari Easton by the same token.
I don't know what the numbers will be, and I
do believe before the end of our show today that
five PM deadline obviously hits, and we will have word
(03:32):
that the Rockets have been able to do that is
being reported that this is all part of a You know,
Nick usually sets this all in motion on the textan
side of things during the off season, when well, we
know you've added this player, everybody's reported it, when are
they going to announce it? Well, there's a sequencing of
events in order to make it all work, and the
NBA similarly with how you need to operate. There's a
(03:53):
sequencing of events that need to take place and getting
it done now because you have a death line on
another player. That's why it was always going to get
done before the season. He Kevin today said, it's nice
that it's not something we're thinking about during the season,
but it was not going to be a distraction. It
was only going to be No. The distraction would have been, well, now,
(04:16):
we don't know about the future. For tari we know
about your future. You're playing here, you're probably retiring here,
You're probably going to win here. Whether or not they
signed you today or then was only relevant to the
rest of the roster in my opinion.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Now, and you're right about the whole sacrifice thing, because
the people that are saying that are the people who
are not one of one who can get paid insane
amounts of money. I mean, it's all relative. You don't
have to I promise you don't have to be literal
about everything here in twenty twenty five, So he absolutely
made a sacrifice, just like Charles Barkley made a sacrifice
(04:53):
for Scott Pippen back in the day and that went
terrible for both of them. But these things do happen sometimes,
and that's why it's funny you brought up what Aman
Thompson was saying.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
You know, I didn't bring up that he was saying expeditiously,
but he did, Yeah, because he's awesome, because he was
asking for something to say, and then he said it.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Yeah, well that's not it's not that's not a common
word that NBA.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
He couldn't control himself afterwards, because I think everybody obviously
was aware.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
But I just look, I do think that there is
something to be said for what ima Udoka brought up,
which is that you know, these guys, it's not that
they were like in awe of him. I mean, you
mentioned this in the first segment, like he's not here
to have fun, he's here to win. But there has
been this like adjustment period, and by the way, I
do think a large part of it, I don't think
(05:48):
this can be understated. I think a large part of
this is because you didn't have the introductory press conference
because he wasn't in town. Until just before training camp began.
There is something to be said for some of these
eyes just being around him for the first time, and
that affects them. I mean, I'm not gonna sit here
and act like Matt Thomas Ross VII AL and I
(06:09):
weren't all fan girling when he walked into the room
at media Day. Everybody in the building except for you,
of course, was fan girling that Kevin Durant was wearing
a Rockets uniform because we hadn't seen it yet other
than photoshops.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
And that's not the same.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
But you know, there is that fine line between oh
he is It is awesome he's on my team now.
It is awesome that he's such a neat guy. It
is awesome that he made that sacrifice. I mean, Aman
Thompson's talking about that he's going to be the direct
beneficiary when they backed the brink truck up for him
this upcoming offseason.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Yeah, they needed to do all these things, and I'm
not sure where it'll be with a men, just because
you know, we don't know how the other players around
him in that draft. We don't know how they're gonna
perform where their teams are at. It's not often, and
it's it's obviously a great problem to have. You're heading
into year three with the with Amn Thompson, he's a
(07:03):
pretty early draft pick, right.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Yeah, I had to say that's that's pretty pretty early.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
Players drafted there don't play for championships in year three
very often.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
He is.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
He's gonna be playing a pivotal role for a team
that wants to play for a championship. Making the playoffs
is fine for players drafted the time Reach Shepherd in
year two. I mean Reed Shepherd, who's in year two
and he's on a championship caliber team. I don't know
that they're gonna win the West, win even more than
fifty two games, and I think everybody agrees they're on.
You know, if you put together a list of the
(07:36):
teams you think could win a championship, whether it's injury
related or luck related or what, they're one of them.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
I mean, there's a few teams.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
One team happens to be far and away the favorite,
and not every year's like that. But it's true again
this year, just like it was last year and it
played out that way. Thunder we're heavy favorites. Th Under one,
they are heavy favorites this year, and they also happen
to be the Rockets opponent tomorrow. And I almost wish
this game was later in the season so you could
actually get a gauge on what this matchups truly about.
I don't know that you're gonna get much of a
(08:02):
gauge on opening night, but Amen Tari certainly beneficiaries of this.
Maybe down the road you could say the same about
Reid when his opportunity to make more money comes up.
But he hadn't played enough NBA minutes to talking about
a Reed Shepherd extension. And we'll see where it goes
from here. But I do believe we'll hear have more
news Rockets contract related. We'll let you hear from Katie
(08:25):
himself a little bit later here on the program. Obviously,
he was very excited, and like I said in the
opening segment, this really never seemed in doubt. He mentioned
this with Matt and Ross that day. He mentioned it
to the general media that very day, the very first
thing he was asked, I expect to sign an extension,
and he has now done that. As they are on
their way to Oklahoma City and on their way for
(08:46):
the first ever game in the regular season with Kevin
Durant knocking down buckets as a Houston Rocket. Very much
looking forward to that best of X, Always looking forward
to that It's next
Speaker 2 (09:00):
E on Sports Talk seven ninety
I guess I figured the Katie extension would happen somewhere
in this this time period, meaning the few days and
hours before the season tipped off.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
But I guess he didn't have to, did it.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
I mean, you're saying, yeah, it did, and honestly it
did because of the way that they spoke about it
made no sense for it not to happen before he
got here. He already knew he was getting an extension,
He already knew how much he was getting, just a
matter of ironing it all out. I think that's what
was said from all different parties, and you know, that's
essentially It's one additional reason why I think he likes
it here because I think the communication has been very
(00:34):
very clear from the jump.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Here's here's what we want to do.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
And I think it was initially broached maybe he liked it,
maybe he didn't, and maybe his agents liked it, maybe
they didn't, but initially broached that you're worth every single
penny you can get. I mean, you're one of the
best players in the league still to this day. If
you want a full two year, one hundred and twenty
two million dollar extension, which you're absolutely well within your
right to ask for We're probably not going to have
(01:00):
as good a basketball team during the time that you
are here. I mean, we might, things might work out,
but it's not going to make it easier for us
to do it. I'm sure that that was put up
and made clear from the beginning. Doesn't mean that they
might not have done it, but it doesn't make it
I mean, clearly, financially, we know what it means for
Kevin Durant, but what it financially means for the Rockets
is that the money will still be spent. It just
(01:21):
won't all be spent on one player. It will now
be spent on others. And we, like many other people
around the NBA, are awaiting word that the Rockets will
in fact reach an agreement with Tarry Easton before five
o'clock today, largely because instead of two years, one hundred
and twenty two million for Kevin Durant for another two
seasons after this year, it's two years ninety million.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
You know.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Amn Thompson was joking about it yesterday saying, Oh, he's
a generous guy, he's a cool guy, so that it's
nice for him to do. I mean, and Kevin Durant
doing Kevin Durant things, as he said he was getting
his shot of dopamine yesterday because all he had to
go on to the X platform, still referred to by
him as Twitter of course, to question people saying, uh,
(02:00):
I don't know if I would call this a sacrifice.
I don't know what else there is to call it.
If he wanted to earn that money, he would have
been sacrificing his basketball instead of his pocketbook because he
could have one hundred percent. There was a team out
there that would have thought, this is good for our organization,
it's good for us, it's good for our brand.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Yeah, all of that, we might even win.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
So yeah, we'll be a team that says, if you
want to come here and we'll make it, we'll make
it worth your while because we'll give you every single penny.
The Rockets weren't one of those teams they said, if
you want to come here, we want you here because
we've been trying to get you here and now we
just want to make it work where we will be
able to win. So, yes, there's a sacrifice there, and
look around his locker room. Alprin shan Gun signed a
(02:42):
five year extension while sacrificing money. Jabari Smith Junior signed
a five year extension while sacrificing money, there's more money
to be earned. Almost every single time when you hit
the market. I can't guarantee you that Jabari Smith Junior
becomes an unrestricted free agent and another team wants to
give him more than what the Rockets gave him. Same
(03:03):
thing with Alprint. I can't guarantee those things.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
But they can offer him to drive up the price.
What I'm saying agency.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Logically makes sense that that's what would happen. It logically
makes sense that there is more money to be or.
I mean, Jalen Green's no different the same thing with
that contract. So on this team, he's doing what his
teammates have done, and Tari Easton by the same token.
I don't know what the numbers will be, and I
do believe before the end of our show today that
five PM deadline obviously hits, and we will have word
(03:32):
that the Rockets have been able to do that is
being reported that this is all part of a You know,
Nick usually sets this all in motion on the textan
side of things during the off season, when well, we
know you've added this player, everybody's reported it, when are
they going to announce it? Well, there's a sequencing of
events in order to make it all work, and the
NBA similarly with how you need to operate. There's a
(03:53):
sequencing of events that need to take place and getting
it done now because you have a death line on
another player. That's why it was always going to get
done before the season. He Kevin today said, it's nice
that it's not something we're thinking about during the season,
but it was not going to be a distraction. It
was only going to be No. The distraction would have been, well, now,
(04:16):
we don't know about the future. For tari we know
about your future. You're playing here, you're probably retiring here,
You're probably going to win here. Whether or not they
signed you today or then was only relevant to the
rest of the roster in my opinion.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Now, and you're right about the whole sacrifice thing, because
the people that are saying that are the people who
are not one of one who can get paid insane
amounts of money. I mean, it's all relative. You don't
have to I promise you don't have to be literal
about everything here in twenty twenty five, So he absolutely
made a sacrifice, just like Charles Barkley made a sacrifice
(04:53):
for Scott Pippen back in the day and that went
terrible for both of them. But these things do happen sometimes,
and that's why it's funny you brought up what Aman
Thompson was saying.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
You know, I didn't bring up that he was saying expeditiously,
but he did, Yeah, because he's awesome, because he was
asking for something to say, and then he said it.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Yeah, well that's not it's not that's not a common
word that NBA.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
He couldn't control himself afterwards, because I think everybody obviously
was aware.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
But I just look, I do think that there is
something to be said for what ima Udoka brought up,
which is that you know, these guys, it's not that
they were like in awe of him. I mean, you
mentioned this in the first segment, like he's not here
to have fun, he's here to win. But there has
been this like adjustment period, and by the way, I
do think a large part of it, I don't think
(05:48):
this can be understated. I think a large part of
this is because you didn't have the introductory press conference
because he wasn't in town. Until just before training camp began.
There is something to be said for some of these
eyes just being around him for the first time, and
that affects them. I mean, I'm not gonna sit here
and act like Matt Thomas Ross VII AL and I
(06:09):
weren't all fan girling when he walked into the room
at media Day. Everybody in the building except for you,
of course, was fan girling that Kevin Durant was wearing
a Rockets uniform because we hadn't seen it yet other
than photoshops.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
And that's not the same.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
But you know, there is that fine line between oh
he is It is awesome he's on my team now.
It is awesome that he's such a neat guy. It
is awesome that he made that sacrifice. I mean, Aman
Thompson's talking about that he's going to be the direct
beneficiary when they backed the brink truck up for him
this upcoming offseason.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Yeah, they needed to do all these things, and I'm
not sure where it'll be with a men, just because
you know, we don't know how the other players around
him in that draft. We don't know how they're gonna
perform where their teams are at. It's not often, and
it's it's obviously a great problem to have. You're heading
into year three with the with Amn Thompson, he's a
(07:03):
pretty early draft pick, right.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Yeah, I had to say that's that's pretty pretty early.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
Players drafted there don't play for championships in year three
very often.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
He is.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
He's gonna be playing a pivotal role for a team
that wants to play for a championship. Making the playoffs
is fine for players drafted the time Reach Shepherd in
year two. I mean Reed Shepherd, who's in year two
and he's on a championship caliber team. I don't know
that they're gonna win the West, win even more than
fifty two games, and I think everybody agrees they're on.
You know, if you put together a list of the
(07:36):
teams you think could win a championship, whether it's injury
related or luck related or what, they're one of them.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
I mean, there's a few teams.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
One team happens to be far and away the favorite,
and not every year's like that. But it's true again
this year, just like it was last year and it
played out that way. Thunder we're heavy favorites. Th Under one,
they are heavy favorites this year, and they also happen
to be the Rockets opponent tomorrow. And I almost wish
this game was later in the season so you could
actually get a gauge on what this matchups truly about.
I don't know that you're gonna get much of a
(08:02):
gauge on opening night, but Amen Tari certainly beneficiaries of this.
Maybe down the road you could say the same about
Reid when his opportunity to make more money comes up.
But he hadn't played enough NBA minutes to talking about
a Reed Shepherd extension. And we'll see where it goes
from here. But I do believe we'll hear have more
news Rockets contract related. We'll let you hear from Katie
(08:25):
himself a little bit later here on the program. Obviously,
he was very excited, and like I said in the
opening segment, this really never seemed in doubt. He mentioned
this with Matt and Ross that day. He mentioned it
to the general media that very day, the very first
thing he was asked, I expect to sign an extension,
and he has now done that. As they are on
their way to Oklahoma City and on their way for
(08:46):
the first ever game in the regular season with Kevin
Durant knocking down buckets as a Houston Rocket. Very much
looking forward to that best of X, Always looking forward
to that It's next
Speaker 2 (09:00):
E on Sports Talk seven ninety
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