Report: Rockets Guarantee P.J. Tucker's Contract Through 2020-21

The Rockets fully guaranteed P.J. Tucker's contract for the 2020-21 season on Sunday, according to The Athletic's Shams Charania. 

Tucker will enter next season on the final year of his four-year, $32 million contract. The Texas product's deal was only partially guaranteed at $2.5 millon for 2020-21 prior to Sunday, but Tucker is now slated to earn his full $8 million salary next season. 

The 34-year-old is in his ninth NBA season, and his third with the Rockets. Tucker has been a relative iron man since returning to the NBA in 2012-13 after a five-year international stint. He's missed just nine games in the last eight seasons, and Tucker has been active for 221 consecutive regular-season games. Only Jazz forward Joe Ingles has a longer streak among active players.

Tucker is only 6'5", though he's emerged as Houston's premier small-ball center of late. He is often the Rockets' nominal five, sharing frontcourt duties alongside wings Danuel House, Thabo Sefolosha and Robert Covington. Sunday night's matchup against Utah will mark Covington's third game with the Rockets after being traded from Minnesota on Feb. 4.

The additional defensive assignment slowed Tucker's production for a significant stretch at the end of December and early January. Tucker went five straight games without a three pointer from Dec. 28 to Jan. 8, and he made just two triples across a ten-game stretch. Tucker has found his offensive groove of late, though, scoring in double figures against Charlotte on Feb. 4 and the Lakers on Feb. 6.

Tucker will have to guard Utah All-Star center Rudy Gobert on Sunday. Tip-off from the Toyota Center in Houston is slated for 6 p.m. CT.