The Houston Rockets just went down 3-1 to the Golden State Warriors in round one of the 2025 NBA Playoffs. Only thirteen teams in league history have come back down to win a playoff series when trailing 3-1.
This series is over.
The Rockets are on the cusp of another demoralizing playoff defeat to the Warriors, a franchise that has historically dominated them in the playoffs. But while the near future may look bleak for the Rockets, their overall future still looks bright.
The Rockets have the fourth youngest rotation in the playoffs, only trailing the Grizzlies, Thunder and Magic by a very slim margin. The difference between the Rockets and the teams ahead of them in this stat is playoff experience. Unlike their counterparts, several players from the Rockets’ rotation are seeing their first playoff action.
Jalen Green, Alperen Sengun, Amen Thompson, Tari Eason and Jabari Smith Jr are all in their first playoff appearances of their careers. Overall, despite the end outcome, this season should be reviewed as successful for the Rockets.
The Rockets boast a young and talented roster that was good enough to secure the second seed and home-court advantage in the brutal Western Conference. That’s no easy feat.
They saw exponential growth from their second-year standout, Thompson, and saw improvement from already established potential franchise cornerstones, Sengun and Green. Sengun was even named an All-Star this season for the first time in his career.
Green once again showed flashes of becoming one of the better shooting guards in the league, improving his defense and playmaking skills. Eason and Smith struggled with injuries, but both players settled into comfortable roles with the team, helping anchor the Rockets’ defense.
The Rockets fully established an identity this year. A team that prides itself on the defensive end, looking to outwork and out-hustle every team put before them. Led by Ime Udoka, the Rockets finished the regular season with the fourth-best defensive rating in the league.
They also were the best rebounding team in the league, leading the association in offensive rebounds by a respectable margin.
The talent and identity on this roster should be enough to excite fans for the future. But what’s most exciting about this team is what this team doesn’t have yet.
With young talent comes assets. And the Rockets have so much young talent, they don’t know what to do with it. For the past couple of seasons, the Rockets have been tied to every potential big-name trade in the league.
While young core players like Sengun, Green, Eason and Smith Jr. have usually been considered untouchable by the Rockets front office, I’m unsure if they feel the same way about the other young talents on the roster, such as Reed Sheppard and Cam Whitmore. Both players are immensely talented but were unable to crack the Rockets’ playoff rotation.
Add in the incredible draft capital the Rockets have, and it would be surprising if Houston weren’t active in the trade market this offseason.
With how this season ended and the performances by some of the players in the rotation, it’ll be interesting to see how the Rockets retool their roster for next season. The name that seems to be gaining the most traction is Kevin Durant, who’s going to be moving on from the Phoenix Suns this offseason.
So what do the Rockets need? Does Kevin Durant solve their problems?
Next year, Durant will be entering his 17th season in the league at age 37. Despite that, any team would be happy to add a certified Hall of Famer and All-NBA talent to their team. It’s going to cost the Rockets a hefty price, though.
Durant fixes a lot of problems. But he doesn’t fix all of them. For the longest, the Rockets’ struggles have been apparent the entire season. There’s no surprise that the Rockets’ offense has struggled in the halfcourt. Limited by their lack of shooting ability and spacing, the Rockets are not a high-scoring team.
The Rockets were one of the worst shooting teams in the league, finishing the year with the 10th-worst three-point percentage and the worst free-throw percentage in the league. Their lack of shooting has become very apparent in the playoffs, as they struggled to capitalize on open looks from deep.
They’re also shooting an abysmal percentage from the free throw line, shooting 63% from the line thus far in the playoffs – the worst in the league yet again.
The Rockets have to add a prolific scorer like Kevin Durant to their roster next season, but they also need to add shooting. One of the best lineups the Rockets ran this season was the double big lineup with Sengun and Adams manning the frontcourt.
So far, that lineup has proven ineffective at times because of the personnel on the court with Sengun and Adams, who are both non-shooters. The Rockets having too many non-shooters on the court at once, such as a double big lineup with Thompson on the court, proved detrimental to their offense. This was often the result of a big Rockets scoring drought, and a Warriors run led by a Stephen Curry flurry.
The Rockets have to add some more “3-and-D” wings to their roster if they want to take the next steps on the offensive end. Surrounding players like Green and Thompson with elite spacing will help take their games to the next level.
And while I’m not opposed to the idea of adding Kevin Durant to this team, he may not be the correct choice. This is where it gets tricky. It’ll be hard, but the Rockets should go after Durant’s current running mate in Phoenix, Devin Booker.
Booker is a prolific scorer with All-NBA talent and playmaking abilities. More importantly, he’s younger than Kevin Durant by 9 years. The Suns are currently desperate, stuck between contending and rebuilding from scratch again.
Right now, sources are reporting that the Suns are committed to building a contender around Booker and departing from Durant this offseason. But we’ve seen reports come out like this before, just for a player to be traded weeks later.
The Rockets own the Suns’ future. They currently have three unprotected Suns first-round picks in 2025, 2027 and 2029. Phoenix’s front office knows they have a ticking time bomb on their hands with Durant wanting out of Phoenix and a dismal roster at the moment.
They need to act fast, and if the Rockets’ front office can convince them it’s time to blow it up, then they very well may be able to swoop up Devin Booker in the process while giving Phoenix their picks back.
But if all else fails for Houston, there may be no reason to rush things either. If the Rockets were to go for Booker or Durant, Jalen Green may be the odd man out for Houston.
Green has been disappointing in the playoffs this year, there’s no question about that. But his performance doesn’t solely fall on his shoulders. His team’s lack of spacing proved to be detrimental to his performance in Game 1, and the Rockets were unable to properly counter Golden State’s defensive schemes against him in Game 3.
Houston knows what Green is capable of, but they’ve failed to surround him with the offensive system to succeed. The same can be said for Alperen Sengun. Both players boast All-NBA level talent, but are forced to struggle on the offensive end due to the Rockets’ lack of weapons.
If the Rockets can’t land big in the trade market, there’s no reason to rush away from the tandem of Green and Sengun. They led the Rockets to a great season, and there’s no need to fix something that isn’t completely broken. A retooled and revamped offense could be the tipping point for Houston next season.
Another first-round exit would be devastating, but the Suns are at the Rockets’ mercy. I’m not very confident in the Suns turning around this ship next season, so who’s to say Booker won’t become even more available in the trade market next offseason?
The point is this. The Rockets came up short this year. Big time. But, calm down, Houston fans.
There’s no reason to sound the alarms yet. Feel the emotion, feel the disappointment, but this team is in great shape.
Many analysts across the league predicted the Rockets would finish near the bottom of the West this year. The team outperformed those expectations and then some. There’s clear talent on this roster. There’s a clear passion to win.
And like Sengun said in his press conference after Houston’s 106-109 loss to Golden State on the road. There’s a lot to learn. The Rockets are still young. And they’re only going to get better.
It’s okay, Houston. We may be experiencing a little bit of a delay. But we’re still clear for liftoff.
