How Have the Rockets Fared in Recent Opening Night Games?

The Houston Rockets and the rest of the NBA will know most of their 2025-26 regular season schedule today as the NBA is releasing the schedule at 2:15 p.m. CT. Two of the games are to be determined after the NBA Cup Group play games conclude.

The Rockets are one of the few teams that already know who they will be playing on opening night, as it was announced recently that they will be part of the NBA opening night doubleheader. The Rockets will travel to Oklahoma City to take on the defending champion Thunder as they raise their first-ever banner since leaving Seattle.

The fact that the Rockets were selected to be part of the NBA opening night games shows how far the franchise has come in the last several seasons. The Rockets have gone from a rebuilding team that was usually at the bottom of the standings to one of the marquee teams in the league.

Nothing represents the Rockets' ascension more than who they have matched up with in the last few opening nights. Usually, for the first two nights to open the season, the NBA will make sure to match up the teams it believes will be contending for a championship. Before this upcoming season, the Rockets have not been on the league's radar when it came to nationally televised games, especially on opening night.

The Rockets' Four Prior Opening Night Matchups

May 4, 2025; Houston, Texas, USA; Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green (23) defends against Houston Rockets center Alperen Sengun (28) during game seven of the first round for the 2025 NBA Playoffs at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images | Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

Since the Rockets traded away James Harden, they have been a team most people outside of Houston have not paid much attention to. The Rockets went from one of the marquee teams during Harden's Rockets career to an afterthought.

For opening night in 2021, the Rockets faced off against the young and upcoming Minnesota Timberwolves. The Timberwolves were led at the time by Karl-Anthony Towns and second-year star Anthony Edwards. The Rockets had a starting lineup of Kevin Porter Jr., Jalen Green, Jae'Sean Tate, Christian Wood, and Daniel Theis.

As you would imagine, looking at the lineups, the game wasn't very close as the Timberwolves got out to an 11-point lead after the first quarter and cruised to a 16-point win. The Rockets' leading scorer that night was Christian Wood with 16 points. Rookie Jalen Green and Alperen Sengun scored nine and 11 points in their NBA debuts.

The following season, the Rockets faced Trae Young and the Atlanta Hawks, resulting in the same outcome: a 117-107 opening night loss. Sengun, as in his rookie season, was not the starter and played 22 minutes off the bench, and the Rockets were led by Porter Jr. this time around with 21 points. That opening night loss would represent the last opening night game for Stephen Silas as the Rockets' head coach.

2023 ushered in a new era for the Rockets as they moved on from the rebuilding stage and transitioned to a more competitive team. In Ime Udoka's first game as Rockets head coach, the Rockets travel to Orlando to face the young and talented Magic team. However, despite the change of coaches, the results were the same as the previous two seasons as the Rockets lost the 2023 opener 116-86.

Even with the disappointing opening night loss, the Rockets still went on to improve by 19 games and finish 41-41. Even with the momentum from the previous season, the Rockets still lost their seventh straight opening-night game. This time, the Charlotte Hornets at home 110-105. That loss did not define the rest of the Rockets' season as they went on to win 52 games and make the playoffs for the first time since 2020.

The last time the Rockets won an opening night game was 2017, when they defeated a team led by Kevin Durant and Steph Curry. Fast forward eight years, and they will try to break the current losing streak led by the same Kevin Durant.