The Houston Rockets are running it back for several more seasons with general manager Rafael Stone.

The Rockets signed Stone and assistant general manager Eli Witus to "multi-year contract extensions earlier this season," according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.

Stone and Witus were named to their roles in 2020.

The Rockets have not made it back to the playoffs since then, but the 2023 hiring of head coach Ime Udoka and Houston's subsequent 41-win season helped secure extensions for Stone and Witus, according to Wojnarowski.

The Rockets had amassed 22 victories or fewer in each of the prior three seasons under Stone, including a 17-win campaign that marked the franchise's worst since 1983.

That stretch reportedly raised questions about Stone's future with the team. One source told The Athletic's Kelly Iko, Shams Charania, and Sam Amick last spring that "it could be a make or break summer" for the Rockets general manager.

Stone responded to that challenge by parting ways with former head coach Stephen Silas, hiring Udoka, drafting first-round selections Amen Thompson and Cam Thomas, and offseason signing veteran players including Fred VanVleet.

Making those changes allowed the Rockets to climb out to a 15-12 record to start the season.

It may have been around that time, with Houston sitting in the playoff picture in December, that the Rockets inked extensions for Stone and Witus.

The Rockets subsequently fell out of the playoff picture, but the team still achieved the second-best single-season wins improvement in franchise history.

The 2023-24 campaign also marked the Rockets' first time with a .500 record since 2020, when the team was led by an All-Star campaign from James Harden.

That success has earned Stone and Witus the leeway to continue directing the Rockets' rebuild, although expectations will likely be higher next year.

After a relatively quiet 2024 trade deadline, Stone and his team could consider making a move now in order to help the Rockets return to playoff contention for the first time since the Harden era. ESPN's Tim MacMahon said in March he believes the Rockets "want to take a big, big swing in the trade market" this offseason.