Ime Udoka experiments with veteran Marcus Smart and a surging Reed Sheppard, while managing key injury returns ahead of a high-stakes preseason finale against the Thunder.
The Houston Rockets have a short preseason ahead of them, but there should still be plenty to learn before the games actually start counting.
Here are five predictions for what we’ll see:
1. Reed Sheppard gets plenty of run.
Sheppard grew substantially last season under Fred VanVleet’s guidance as he was out, and Houston has no reason to stop giving him meaningful reps now. VanVleet is working his way back from ACL surgery, so I’d expect Sheppard to have plenty of opportunities to handle the ball and keep building on what he showed last year.
2. VanVleet and Steven Adams will be handled carefully.
Both veterans are returning from season-ending injuries, and preseason is probably not the time to prove anything. If either one plays limited minutes, or even sits a game, I wouldn’t read much into it. Houston needs both of them healthy when the regular season arrives far more than it needs them logging heavy minutes in Macao.
3. Marcus Smart will immediately shake up the guard rotation.
Smart gives Ime Udoka another veteran option alongside VanVleet, Sheppard and Amen Thompson, and I’m expecting Houston to spend preseason testing different combinations. I’d especially like to see how Smart looks alongside Sheppard and Thompson, because both pairings could give us an early idea of where he fits once the rotation starts taking shape.
4. Udoka is going to get creative and experiment.
That may sound obvious, but Houston has enough new and returning pieces that preseason should be useful for more than getting everyone back into game shape. Smart is new, VanVleet and Adams are returning, and Sheppard’s role grew considerably last season. Not to mention, Kevin Durant is entering his second year in Houston. I’d be surprised if we didn’t see some unusual combinations while Udoka starts figuring out which lineups he actually likes.
5. The Oklahoma City finale will be the best preview.
Houston’s final preseason opponent also happens to be the team responsible for a historic Opening Night and one of the craziest games of last season. The Rockets opened the 2025-26 campaign in Oklahoma City and somehow made it through two overtimes before ultimately falling 125-124.
I’m certainly not calling a preseason game a revenge matchup. That would be a little ridiculous. Still, if Udoka wants one final look at something resembling his regular rotation before the games start counting, the Thunder should provide a pretty good test.
The preseason record itself means very little to me. I’m much more interested in who plays, which combinations work and whether Houston comes out of it healthy.
If we get answers to even a few of those questions, preseason will have done its job.
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