When the Rockets used future second-round draft capital to dump Dorian Finney-Smith’s salary in July, the immediate takeaway was that Houston had a path to potentially dip below the NBA’s luxury-tax threshold this season.
But the bigger implication could be for future years..
In an offseason review, The Athletic’s John Hollinger — formerly an NBA front office executive — explains:
The Rockets were able to run it back with a more balanced roster that is also just a few dollars below the luxury-tax line (partly because they used three seconds to dump Finney-Smith’s contract). While I don’t really care about Tilman Fertitta’s checkbook, I do care about the implications of the repeater tax, and keeping it out of play for the 2028-29 season could set
up Houston for some transactional fireworks.
Remember, Houston still has awesome draft capital: an unprotected first-round swap from Brooklyn and an unprotected Phoenix Suns pick in 2027, as well as an unprotected pick from either Phoenix or the Dallas Mavericks in 2029. Even if the Rockets do nothing, they are in position to have a pretty good season, but the roster also has enough balance, assets, and cap flexibility to zip into the contender class if the right player becomes available.
Such a trade could come together as soon as the NBA’s in-season window this winter, or perhaps in the 2027 offseason leading into a draft that features those aforementioned selections.
Or, perhaps the Rockets are already good enough — or will be through the development of younger players — that a major trade isn’t necessary. General manager Rafael Stone and head coach Ime Udoka would love to see that play out starting Wednesday, when training camp opens for the upcoming 2026-27 season.
But in the event that it’s not good enough, Hollinger is spot on that the Rockets have the flexibility to make major changes.,
Houston enters 2026-27 coming off consecutive seasons with 52-30 records and first-round playoff losses, and the internal expectation is for a deeper run in the 2027 playoffs next spring.
Should that not happen, or perhaps even if things aren’t trending well during the season, the possibility of more significant changes looms.
Preseason content!!!Kicking things off today with five under-the-radar moves from this offseason that I liked, including one that might really surprise you.www.nytimes.com/athletic/758...
— John Hollinger (@johnhollinger.bsky.social) 2026-09-21T14:12:39.077Z
This article originally appeared on Rockets Wire: The Athletic: Rockets could be setting up for ‘transactional fireworks’
