 He still had two years under his contract with Panathinaikos, but his buyout was small, and could be paid by the Rockets.Spanoulis agreed to play for Houston, at a price of $1,944,000 gross income per season, for 3 years, passing up on his former team Panathinaikos Athens' much larger offer of €1.6 million euros net income per season, over 3 years, just for a chance of playing in the NBA.Spanoulis made the Rockets' rotation, but eventually, there was a falling out between him and Rockets coach Van Gundy, after Van Gundy benched Spanoulis, after the coach claimed that he had played poorly, citing that rookie players are dangerous for coaches that are in contract years, and that Spanoulis was too turnover prone and lacking in outside shooting touch to be a good fit in Van Gundy's offensive system design.