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A.J. Griffin is stepping away from basketball and will be waived by the Houston Rockets. Griffin will be bought out by the Rockets and give up a significant portion of the $3.9 million he was owed for the upcoming 2024-25 season.

Griffin was previously reported to be considering leaving behind his NBA career while citing undisclosed personal and family-related reasons. Griffin was the 16th overall pick in the 2022 NBA draft out of by Duke by the Atlanta Hawks.

Griffin was traded by the Hawks to the Rockets this offseason and appeared in five games in Summer League. As training camp drew closer, Griffin’s communication and appearances at the practice facility diminished.

The Rockets have no immediate plans to fill Griffin’s suddenly vacated roster spot.

Donte DiVincenzo has a $4.7 million player option for next season, but says he’s made no decisions on his future with the Golden State Warriors yet. If DiVincenzo opts out, the Warriors will likely find it hard to retain the five-year veteran guard.

DiVincenzo said he would love to remain with the Warriors, but added “We’ll cross that bridge once we get there.”

Golden State is unlikely to have the Taxpayer MLE, as they’ll highly likely to be over the new second tax apron. One of the penalties for that level of salary is that those teams will lose access to the Taxpayer MLE. Without that exception, the Warriors could only give DiVincenzo a slight bump over his current salary of $4.5 million.