As the Houston Rockets headed into the 2025-2026 season, the biggest question is how Kevin Durant will fit with his new team. The Rockets made the biggest move of that offseason when they traded Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks for the future Hall of Famer.
With the move, the Rockets were expected to be a favorite in the 25-26 season, bringing back three of their five starters and coming off their first playoff appearance since 2020. Adding Durant, Alperen Sengun, Jabari Smith, and Fred VanVleet should
have given the Rockets one of the NBA’s best starting lineups. But that’s not what happened for the Rockets last season.
As the Rockets prepared to start day one of their 2025 training camp, VanVleet suffered a major injury during an offseason workout. At the time, no one knew if it would be season-ending, but the Rockets realized VanVleet would be out for a long time, at the very least. The Rockets prepared as if VanVleet would not see the floor for at least the entire regular season.
As the season went on, two things became clear to everyone following the Rockets. First, the Rockets lacked a suitable replacement for their veteran point guard. The Rockets at times had Reed Sheppard take over as the starting point guard, but for the most part, Amen Thompson was the lead guard, a position he did play frequently before entering the NBA.
Despite both players’ progress throughout the season, it wasn’t always enough to help the Rockets win games. That led Ime Udoka and his staff to improvise by having Durant or Sengun initiate the offense at the top of the key, with mixed results. The Rockets struggled in close games and in the playoffs as teams increasingly blitzed their ball handlers throughout the season.
That’s exactly why the Rockets brought VanVleet in via free agency a few years ago: they needed someone who could orchestrate the offense and limit turnovers. VanVleet has done that since joining the team, especially in his first season, when the Rockets finished with one of their best seasons in years, and he took care of the ball.
The Rockets ranked 24th in turnovers last season, their worst ranking since VanVleet joined the team. The previous season, when VanVleet was in the lineup, the Rockets ranked 15th with over a full turnover less per game. Although VanVleet wasn’t seen as a typical point guard before coming to the Rockets, he proved he could be a pass-first guard, posting a career-high in assists in his first season with the team.
Another area that VanVleet will help the Rockets this upcoming season is from beyond the arc. Despite a down season from the 3-point range in 2024-25, VanVleet has a career average of 37.1% from downtown, and with the addition of Durant, he is expected to bounce back from that .345 average he shot that season.
SB Nation asked VanVleet about the benefits of being a veteran, and even though he hadn’t played with Durant before, they should hit the ground running because of their experience.
Another positive of having VanVleet back on the court is that it puts everyone back in their normal position, specifically Thompson. Thompson has thrived in the NBA playing at the dunker spot from his forward position. Last season, as mentioned earlier, Thompson had to play a lot more lead guard, which at times slowed down his offensive output. Now he can play more off-ball, which should lead to a career year on offense.
Another plus is that the Rockets bench should be much better than its league-worst ranking last season. The additions of veterans like Marcus Smart and Bogdan Boganovich will defintely help, and having Sheppard and Tari Eason off the bench will help too, since they won’t have to start games with VanVleet back.
Of course, VanVleet’s return won’t solve all of the Rockets’ issues. They still have to shoot better overall as a team, communicate better on the defensive end, play at a faster pace, and have better team chemistry, but getting their on- and off-court leader back this season will make everyone’s life a alot easier than last season.
