Steven Adams’ 2026-2027 Expectations With Houston Rockets

The Houston Rockets are set to start the 2026-2027 NBA season in 48 hours. After facing the Dallas Mavericks twice in preseason action, they’re already scheduled to meet again on Wednesday night. While the lineups were very different in each of the NBA China Games last weekend, that did actually give us some valuable insight for this upcoming season. 

Steven Adams was the first big-man to come off the bench in Houston’s preseason debut, which was great to see. It was his first time on an NBA court since his ankle injury against the New Orleans Pelicans on January 18th, then getting surgery 10 days later. 

He logged 14 minutes in his return, showing everyone that he was healthy and ready to contribute this season. He looked fluid out there, so I wasn’t concerned by him only having two points and three rebounds. It is worth noting that he was a minus three in the box-score, though. 

By the second game in Macao, both Adams and Alperen Şengün were sidelined, but neither player was actually injured. I understand the rest, particularly for Adams returning from injury, but I was a little concerned when he didn’t play against the OKC Thunder last Thursday. 

We already knew that he wouldn't be playing in back-to-back scenarios, but then he sat out again after four days of rest, give or take. 

Perhaps he only stayed on the bench due to the game being a blowout, as covered on Roundtable, but would’ve loved to see the full lineup in Houston’s preseason finale. Either way, we shouldn’t be surprised to see Steven Adams inactive on any given night. 

Instead, any Rockets fans tuning in should expect to see this team filling the center role by committee, as mentioned on Roundtable. Şengün is expected to keep progressing and Jabari Smith Jr. should see an increase in minutes at that position as well. 

I’d expect Adams to have a much smaller role than he did with Houston last season, as the goal is to keep him healthy for the postseason. No need to rush him back and play him upwards of 20 minutes per game again. He started in 11 out of his 32 appearances last year, and that’s just not needed. 

After all, the Rockets had a better record without him last year, as seen on Roundtable. The difference wasn’t anything major, but it shows that he had less of an impact on winning than many people think. 

With that in mind, I don’t think we should stress about him missing games here and there. It’s bound to happen. All this team needs is his health for a postseason run, when Houston will have to deal with Hall of Fame level centers in the Western Conference.