After getting back to .500 (41-41) in 2023/24 for the first time in four years following a full-scale rebuild, the Rockets were expected to take another step forward in ’24/25. After all, six of their top eight players in minutes per game in ’23/24 were still on rookie scale contracts, so it seemed safe to assume those players hadn’t yet reached their respective ceilings.
Still, there were relatively modest expectations for just how big a step forward Houston would be capable of taking after a pretty quiet offseason that involved no real roster additions besides No. 3 overall pick Reed Sheppard. Oddsmakers set their over/under at 43.5 wins, and when we asked our readers last September to make their predictions, a slight majority took the “under” on that figure.
Given that context, it’s hard to call the Rockets ’24/25 season anything but a huge success for the franchise. Houston won 52 games, its highest single-season total since the James Harden years, and held the No. 2 seed in a competitive Western Conference for much of the season, including from March 19 onward.
Fourth-year big man Alperen Sengun followed up his breakout ’23/24 campaign by earning his first All-Star nod, while second-year wing Amen Thompson displayed star potential as a two-way player, boosting his scoring total to 14.1 points per game on 55.7% shooting and emerging as one of the NBA’s best defensive players — he claimed a spot on the All-NBA first team and finished fifth in Defensive Player of the Year voting, receiving nine first-place votes.
Notably, the Rockets managed to make a significant move up the standings without major breakout seasons from any of their other young players besides Thompson. Jalen Green, Jabari Smith Jr., and Tari Eason all had good years, but their numbers were in the neighborhood of ones they’d posted in previous seasons. Meanwhile, Cam Whitmore‘s role was inconsistent and Sheppard had a hard time getting off the bench and cracking Houston’s crowded rotation.
In other words, there’s reason to believe that all of those players have room to continue improving, especially since they’re are still so young — Eason, who turned 24 last month, is the oldest of the bunch. And if some of them still have another level to reach, it stands to reason that the same is true of the Rockets as a whole.
As we enter the 2025 offseason, the big question in Houston is just how much confidence the front office has in the ability of those young players to take the next steps necessary to turn the team into a legitimate contender. Because, despite their second-place finish in the West, the Rockets weren’t a legitimate contender in 2024/25 — they had trouble generating half-court offense in the postseason and were eliminated by the seventh-seeded Warriors in round one.
The Rockets repeatedly insisted ahead of the 2025 trade deadline that they no interest in breaking up their young core to add win-now help. Will that stance change now that general manager Rafael Stone and his group have had another year – and a seven-game playoff series – to assess this roster? If so, what sort of player will they be targeting on the trade market and which young players and/or draft picks would they be willing to give up to get that player?
The Rockets’ Offseason Plan
The two superstars most frequently cited as potential trade candidates this summer are Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kevin Durant. The Rockets have been linked to both players. However, Antetokounmpo has yet to actually request a trade and the Bucks aren’t planning to exploring dealing him unless that happens. The Durant sweepstakes, on the other hand, appear to be heating up, with Houston among the teams engaged in discussions with the Suns.
