Mike D'Antoni Reportedly Ends Contract Extension Talks With Rockets

It seems like a major shakeup within the Houston Rockets is imminent. GM Daryl Morey has already been making phone calls on possible trades on key players such as Chris Paul and Clint Capela. Besides the players, head coach Mike D'Antoni's time in Houston could also come to an end sooner than expected.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, D'Antoni has ended contract extension talks with the team. The final year of his contract is next season, which he plans to complete.

Houston Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni has ended talks with management on a contract extension, league sources tell ESPN. D’Antoni plans to complete the final season of his deal in 2019-20. Story soon on ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 30, 2019

There have been reports of a split opinion on D'Antoni within the Rockets' ownership. The head coach's option for the 2019-2020 season was supposedly picked up by owner Tilman Fertitta without the full agreement of Morey.

D'Antoni's assistant coaches have also recently been fired. It's been speculated that their firings are part of a strategy by Morey to force D'Antoni out of town. Based on this news, we can only guess D'Antoni is feeling the heat.

Mike D’Antoni’s ability to put together a quality coaching staff will be difficult without an extension. No motivation for coaches with other jobs to jump if the Rockets job won’t be there in a year.
— Chris Mannix (@SIChrisMannix) May 30, 2019

The current team has had plenty of success under D'Antoni's system that centers around the isolation play-style of James Harden. However, Houston has never been able to get over the Warriors hump to get to the NBA Finals.

The team has very little flexibility due to hefty long contracts of players such as Paul and Capela, but it seems like Morey will bring change to the team one way or another.