I do know they have
some logic (since 2k15 or 16) that is supposed to account for this, but it obviously at the very least needs some tuning. Leftos has said before that different attributes are supposed to progress differently; they've looked at typical improvement curves for things like IQ, outside shooting, athleticism, free throw shooting, etc, and have tried to make the attributes in game progress similarly to how they tend to irl (e.g. free throw shooting should progress much more slowly than other attributes, and not really improve past 90).
I'd be willing to bet that something has 'broken' the logic they put in place. My best guess based on the wonderful analysis yall have done in this thread is the new contested rating in addition to the existing open/moving has thrown off progression/training, maybe it wasn't accounted for correctly.
Not a Rockets fan but couldn't help and laugh at the irony. Somewhere, Daryl Morey is triggered.