Three areas the Rockets must improve this season

The Houston Rockets have turned the page on their 2025-26 campaign after an up-and-down season. The Rockets made the biggest move of the 2025 offseason when they traded for future Hall of Famer Kevin Durant, hoping he would be the missing piece in their championship hopes.

Unfortunately for the Rockets, those plans were derailed before they even started, as Fred VanVleet, the Rockets’ on- and off-court leader, had his season ended before it started when he suffered a season-ending injury during an offseason workout. The Rockets spent the entire season trying to make up for the absence as they struggled at times to build any consistency throughout the season.

Advertisement

Despite those struggles, the Rockets won 52 games, the same mark as the season before. Like the season before, the Rockets saw their season end in the first round—this time at the hands of LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Rockets now head into season two of the Kevin Durant era and hope to do it with a fully healthy team. VanVleet wasn’t the only Rocket who missed significant time last season, as the Rockets’ best rebounder and screen setter, Steven Adams, suffered a season-ending injury in January.

That made an already short-handed Rockets bench even thinner and played a huge part in the Rockets’ early playoff exit. The Rockets didn’t make any big offseason splashes this time around, but they are banking on a healthy VanVleet, and Adams will be exactly what they need to get over the hump this season finally. That said, what three things must happen for the Rockets to have a successful season?

Three things the Rockets must do this season to take that next step

The Rockets performed well in some areas last season. They were again the NBA’s best rebounding team, as they have been for the last few seasons. They were also a top-10 defense all season. Despite those stats, the Rockets still did not finish in the top four in the Western Conference. The Rockets must improve in several areas this upcoming season. Here are the three areas the Rockets must change or improve.

Advertisement

Limit Kevin Durant’s Minutes

Last season, with VanVleet out,…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/three-areas-rockets-must-improve-160852345.html

Author :

Publish date : 2026-09-18 16:08:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.