Veteran center Steven Adams will be an unrestricted free agent in the 2025 NBA offseason, but the Houston Rockets do have Bird rights to exceed the salary cap and retain his services. With that in mind, if Adams wants to stick around, there is a clear financial path for a deal to be had — assuming the team values him at a sufficiently high level.

The Warriors tried to get Adams, a 46.2% free-throw shooter, off the court by using the Hack-a-Shaq strategy against him. But he made an adequate 9 of 16 from the foul stripe, and the Rockets put back a few misses to render the strategy moot.

Alperen Sengun on Steven Adams’ impact… “I hate playing against him at practise and I’m sure other teams hate him, too. He gives me a lot of space when two bodies gotta box him out. He does the hard job. I do the easy job and clean up.” pic.twitter.com/HfIi3nFS8C