The Houston Rockets’ 2025-2026 regular season, which ended on Sunday, was quite the roller coaster. There was the euphoria of acquiring Kevin Durant in June, followed by the extreme frustration over losing point guard Fred Vanvleet to a torn ACL in the preseason. It doesn’t get anymore schizophrenic than that.
Then the actual season began, and a 15-5 start in the first 20 games had Rocket fans dreaming of a title run in June. However, along came mid-February through late March, another 20 game stretch, and the Rockets went 10-10, and if I’m being honest, some of those ten wins felt like losses, just based on sloppy play. Again, it was a very tipsy turvy season.
Now, though, the Rockets have finished the regular season on a high note, winning nine of their final ten games, and getting ready for a playoff series against the Los Angeles Lakers in which they are a heavy favorite (-750 to win the series), despite being the road team. This, obviously, is due to the likely absence of All-NBA guard Luka Doncic (hamstring) for the Lakers. Also, guard Austin Reaves is slated to miss the series with an oblique injury.
Indeed, it’s an odd situation, where a road team is such a heavy favorite, especially when LeBron James is still healthy and on the other side. However, this version of LeBron is 41 years old. He’s a souped up shell of what he once was. In short, the Rockets have to win this series.
The pressure is squarely on the Rockets, as there are zero expectations being placed on the Lakers. If we were to individualize the pressure on the Rockets, here are the five under the most pressure to win this series, and then show some championship fight in the second round, presumably against defending champion Oklahoma City:
5. IME UDOKA
Udoka only cracks the top five because of the conventional pressure that is always on a head coach to go win games and win titles, but I don’t think he is even remotely in danger of being fired or anything like that. The Fertittas did give him a big pay raise after Year 2 in 2024-25, so there is some pressure to begin living up to the paycheck.
4. AMEN THOMPSON
Thompson had a very good third season in the NBA, but didn’t quite build off of his breakout sophomore campaign in the way everyone had hoped. That’s, in part, due to his still being a liability shooting from the outside, and also, in part, due to being miscast, at times, as the point guard for this team in Vanvleet’s absence. Thompson is eligible for a contract extension this coming offseason, and he is an obvious foundational piece, but is he a max contract player? The postseason is a good proving ground.
3. TARI EASON
Eason is a guy who was, in a sense, in Thompson’s shoes a year ago. Eason is not as widely acclaimed as Thompson, but he was extension eligible last fall, and chose to reject the Rockets’ offer and test restricted free agency this summer. That bet on himself looks shaky, at best, after a really rough two month stretch after the All Star break. A solid postseason would do wonders for Eason’s market value.
2. RAFAEL STONE
Stone made the unfortunate offhand remark in his post trade deadline press conference that perhaps this “[isn’t] the Rockets’ year,” alluding to the injuries to Vanvleet and Steven Adams, and the inability to find suitable replacements via trade. I like Stone, but I hated that comment. That said, if this playoff run is cut short by a Lakers’ upset, or if the Rockets look uncompetitive against a premiere team like Oklahoma City in the second round, it’s Stone’s job to find a solution next season, while Kevin Durant is still playing at an All-NBA level.
- KEVIN DURANT
That brings us to Durant, who was unquestionably sensational in his first season as a Houston Rocket, becoming the oldest player in NBA history to put up 2,000 points in a regular season. Despite the Rockets looking like they could use a little Dillon Brooks in their lives at times this seaosn, the trade with the Suns was a home run. However, if the Rockets bow out meekly at any point this postseason, all that heat that gets turned up on Durant for ganging up with an already elite Warriors team back in 2016, to win his only two titles, will get turned back up. Mark my words.
