A role player who has never been on free agency

Truth be told, the free market is getting less and less starry these days, because if a player is strong enough, often the home team will not let him into the free market and will renew his contract before it expires. It's often the privilege of a star player to sign a big contract early, but with such a role player, his career has never made it to the free market.

Today, the Rockets are 3 years 39 million and Aquaman Adams has renewed his contract ahead of schedule. His contract is set to officially expire on July 1 as a free agent, but the Rockets locked in the center who has worked wonders in the playoffs half a month early. So Adams continued his career record of never entering the free market.

Although Adams looks old, he is actually not yet 32 years old, and was selected by the Thunder with the 12th pick in the first round in '13 and immediately signed a four-year rookie contract. In the fourth year of his career, the Thunder renewed a four-year, 100 million contract with him in advance, effective in 2017.

After the third year of this contract, Adams was traded to the Pelicans, along with a two-year, 35 million early extension, extending the contract through 2023. Adams' Pelicans career didn't last long, and in the summer of 2021, he was traded by the Pelicans to the Grizzlies.

A year later, in October 2022, Adams, who had one year left on his contract, signed a two-year, $25.2 million contract extension with the Grizzlies, extending his contract until the summer of '25. Unfortunately, Adams strained the cruciate ligament in his right knee in January 23.

At first, Adams chose conservative treatment, and his recovery was not ideal. Before the start of the 23-24 season, Adams underwent surgery on the cruciate ligament, which was reimbursed for the entire season, and Adams was traded to the Rockets more than three months later, and continued to recover from injuries during the season.

From January '23 to the end of the '24 season, Adams was in a state of recuperating from injuries and gradually being forgotten, and some fans who didn't know his age would even think that Adams was old enough to retire.

For a center over 30 years old, cruciate ligament surgery was fatal for the entire career, so Adams had a long recovery. Even if he is 100% cured, the Rockets still save Adams in the regular season for the sake of safety, and don't let him play back-to-back.

Throughout the season, Adams played in 57 regular season games, averaging 3.9 points, 5.7 rebounds and 0.5 blocks per game while shooting 54.5% from the field; He played in seven playoff games, averaging 5.7 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game while shooting 60% from the field.

Looking at the data alone, it's just the level of an ordinary substitute center. But Adams' offensive rebounding rate in the regular season this season was as high as 21.8%, surpassing Zhuang Shen last season to become the center with the highest rebounding rate in a single season in history. The Rockets are the league's top rebounders and offensive rebounds this season, and Adams is inseparable from his contributions.

Fans who have watched Adams and Wei Shao play know that Adams' rebounding ability cannot be reflected in rebounding data at all, and if necessary, he will jam everyone to let Wei Shao grab the rebound and quickly go to the fast break, reducing the step of passing the center to the guard.

In the first round of the series with the Warriors, although the Rockets were finally eliminated by the Black Seven, Adams played an important role on the court, his rebounding, secondary offensive ability and ultra-high-quality cover, which gave Kerr a headache, and the Warriors had to use "slashing tactics" in G6 to try to get Adams off the court.

But in that game, Adams made 9 of 16 free throws, announcing the failure of Kerr's "slashing tactic" and dragging the series into a tie-break. In seven games in the series, when Adams was on the court, the Rockets outscored the Warriors by 44 points, which is enough to illustrate Adams' role.

For the Rockets, his role is not just a backup center, he can also play with Shin Kyung in the twin towers when necessary, plus Amen and Smith form an incomparably tall lineup, which often has unexpected effects.

When modern rebounding began to constantly emphasize the shooting ability of the center, Adams can still find a place with solid screen quality and consistent rebounding contributions, and every guard who plays with Adams will benefit from it.

A 3-year, 39 million fully guaranteed contract is indeed a bit expensive for an older substitute center who has had a major injury and has questionable attendance. But Adams' irreplaceability, his positive role on the court, still made the Rockets determined not to let him enter the free market.

Of course, this does not include the "everyone loves Adams" locker room attributes, this warm and easy-going big man will quickly become a locker room darling every team he visits, and become a locker room concoctor as he gets older. Think about it, how good his temper must be for a person who can be kicked by Dream Green so much without being in a hurry.

So that's one of the reasons why Adams never became a free agent, and every team wants to keep Adams on the team. Of course, another important factor is that Adams has a perfect career plan, and every contract is not a lion's mouth, and he accepts it when he sees it, and passes every contract smoothly. With all the contracts in his career combined, Adams has earned $210 million.

Compared to Cousins, who was once the league's No. 1 center and is now expelled from the Puerto Rico league, Adams' career is much better.