After early exit from playoffs, what’s next for Rockets? Stand pat? Chase another star?

Game 6 for Houston — Friday night’s 20-point loss that saw them eliminated from the playoffs — felt like a microcosm of the Rockets’ entire season.

Star players were on the bench in street clothes. Houston lacked shooting or consistent shot creation from their young core — their offense got stagnant. Without Steven Adams, they lacked the offensive rebounding power to cover that up. While the defense remained impressive — the Lakers didn’t score in triple-digits and had just a 106 offensive rating — if Houston wasn’t creating turnovers and converting them into transition buckets, its offense struggled.

Advertisement

Houston was a team that looked better on paper than it did on the court for most of the season. Which begs the question:

Now what?

Stand pat, bank on better health and improved play from their young core, and hope that is enough? Even if things go much better, is that enough in a Western Conference with Oklahoma City and San Antonio? And where does Kevin Durant fit into all of this?

Or, there is another option.

Rockets may go star hunting

With that young talent and a lot of draft picks, the Rockets could make an impressive pitch for Giannis Antetokounmpo or any other star players who become available (Kawhi Leonard and Donovan Mitchell are popular targets of speculation). A lot of people around the league expect the Rockets to push their chips in and try to maximize their window with Durant, William Guillory and Sam Amick at The Athletic report.

Advertisement

Should Houston prioritize chasing the limited window that comes with a 37-year-old superstar, even if it means chipping away at these young players that they’ve built up over the past few seasons? If the Rockets decide to chase another star-level talent this summer — like so many rival executives believe they will — they are well positioned to do so. But whether it’s chasing Antetokounmpo, or perhaps Leonard or Mitchell, that approach runs the risk of backfiring if they come up short while sending the wrong kinds of signals to this current core.

Any trade for another star likely involved Alperen Sengun going out, both because of his…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/early-exit-playoffs-whats-next-191630362.html

Author :

Publish date : 2026-05-02 19:16:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.