Review of the Houston Rockets' Season

The Houston Rockets’ 2025-2026 season was full of surprising highs and lows. Although the season ended in a disappointing loss in the first round of the play-offs against the Los Angeles Lakers, there are a lot of promising aspects to look at.

Injuries to two key players, Fred Van Fleet and Kevin Durant, were very unfortunate and detrimental to Houston’s overall success. Fred Van Fleet suffered a torn ACL, forcing him to miss the entire season; Kevin Durant suffered an ankle sprain which forced him to miss the final games of Houston’s playoff series. Although these injuries to their veteran stars were crucial to their disappointing finish, it gave the young prospects increased opportunity to flourish. 

To fill in Van Fleet’s position, Amen Thompson stepped up. He took on a huge role, and averaged 37.4 minutes per game, 18.3 points on 53.4% shooting, 7.8 rebounds, and 5.3 assists. He performed even better in the playoffs averaging 19.2 points per game. It was highlighted by a monster performance in game 3, putting 26 points, 11 rebounds, 3 blocks and 3 steals.

Thompson’s improvement does come at a cost however, as he is expected to be offered a 5 year contract paying around $250 million. Houston are and will continue to face a crucial salary issue, and will have to make difficult decisions on whether to maintain their expensive players’ salaries. With the upcoming draft, the team will need to balance paying its young prospects while avoiding prestigious luxury tax bills.

Ime Udoka has played a big impact in the young players flourishing. However, his offensive schemes and philosophy were not very successful. The Rockets’ offense seemed lackluster and predictable at times. The team lacked in 3 point scoring, which forced the team to rely on mid-range isolations and post-ups. This was highlighted in the play-offs, as they averaged 98.7 points, 40.9% shooting from the field, and a brutal 30.2% from deep.

Udoka does deserve credit for the team’s elite defense, displaying a combination of physicality and versatility, which allowed them to dominate the paint and dictate the tempo. He implement a very physical and switch heavy scheme, landing them with an extremely high defense rating of 113.2. Houston allowed the fourth lowest opponent points per game (110), and had a defensive net rating of +5.4. They also finished the season as the best rebounding team in the entire NBA. 

With many weaknesses and strengths, there are a lot of decisions to be made by the management. With the draft coming up, what can we expect from the Rockets next season?