The Houston Rockets’ 2025-26 schedule has been announced. Much has been made of Houston’s significant increase in nationally televised games next season (28). They’ve even drawn the opening night main event versus the defending champions. The Rockets will have a lot of new fans this season. But what should those fans expect from Houston’s opening schedule?
What to Expect From the Rockets’ Opening Schedule in 2025-26
The increased interest in the Rockets is the inevitable result of trading for the services of Kevin Durant. Durant doesn’t quite make it into the LeBron James and Stephen Curry tier of eyeball magnets. However, he did still easily make the starting lineup for the last All-Star Game, despite the Phoenix Suns’ cloud-covered season.
Durant makes the Rockets a serious contender. With that comes expectations. If the Rockets come spluttering out of the gate in 2025-26, the media will run wings around them. The obvious thing to do then is to look over the Rockets’ opening schedule for causes of splutters.
The Opening Stretch
This year’s opening schedule certainly looks a lot more balanced than last year, when the Rockets played the Spurs three times in the first ten. In fact, the Rockets won’t have their second clash with the same opponent until they face the Utah Jazz in consecutive games to start December. That’ll be their 18th game of the season. Incidentally, it will be February before they have a proper back-to-back against the same opponent, who will just so happen to be every Rockets fan’s second-favorite team this season.
The closest thing to an anomaly in Houston’s opening stretch is the number of East Coast teams they’ll be playing. Six of Houston’s first ten opponents will be Eastern Conference squads. Considering that the West-based Rockets will play each of those teams only twice in total, it’s something of an over-representation. Despite what the rest of the world may think of Texans, however, Rockets fans will care less about where those teams are from and more about how good they are at what they do.
Strength of schedule analysis before a season has even started is obviously unreliable. After an offseason of work, teams can turn out better than anyone expected. Alternatively, after an offseason of aging or adjustments from other coaching staffs, they can turn out worse. But Houston’s opening stretch (first night excluded) looks like a nicely structured warm-up session.
The Competition
After playing the defending champions on opening night, the Rockets won’t play another clearly contending-caliber team until their sixth game. That will be against the Dallas Mavericks. After that, probably their thirteenth against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
That isn’t to say that Houston’s opening stretch will be easy. The Detroit Pistons (Game 2) are progressing nicely with their own rebuild. The Boston Celtics (Game 5) are having a rehabilitation year absent Jayson Tatum, but are always a competent franchise. The San Antonio Spurs (Game 8) have begun the process of fleshing out a supplementary roster around their super-prospect, Victor Wembanyama. Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s possibly backsliding but definitely dangerous Milwaukee Bucks will follow up right after.
But in this modern, post-parity era of the NBA, there are very few teams plodding around offering up free wins anymore. With the Indiana Pacers’ unexpected run to a Game 7 in the Finals last season, the contending class doesn’t seem as exclusive as it used to be. The Pacers were undoubtedly a phenomenal team, albeit one likely to phone it in this year, missing Tyrese Haliburton. But who else might spring up ready to surprise us all in 2025-26?
In their first ten, the Rockets will play the Brooklyn Nets (Game 3), the Toronto Raptors (Game 4), and the Washington Wizards (Game 10). The wins aren’t free, but if you don’t get them, you feel like you missed out on a good deal.
The Last Word
The staging is in place for Houston to start the season strong. Of course, any narratives will almost entirely hinge on the outcome of their opening night clash with the champs. If they spoil OKC’s ring night, or at least make it close, they will be heralded as contenders all season long. If they get shown up, then it will be a long road back to the top of the leaderboards. Even if that happens, though, expect the rest of the Rockets’ opening stretch to give them a nice little boost.
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