Injuries Putting Golden State Warriors in Same Boat as Rockets

The 2025-26 NBA season has been a great one thus far. We’ve seen a litany of memorable performances.

And an abundance of highly competitive contests. There have been a number of surprises, in both good and not-so-good ways.

There are always over achievers and under achievers.

The Houston Rockets have fallen under the latter category, through 40 games. They rank fourth in the Western Conference with a 26-15 record, but find themselves held out of contender talks.

Understandably, as they’ve been an inconsistent bunch.

And the Western Conference is a crowded race, per usual. The Rockets are just a half game back from the fourth-seeded Minnesota Timberwolves, while also just a half game over the seventh-seeded Phoenix Suns (and Los Angeles Lakers at sixth).

One can’t help but wonder how much further ahead they’d be if they had Fred VanVleet, who the team lost to a torn ACL at a team minicamp in the Bahamas, before the season even started.

The team hasn’t been able to replace his role and positional contributions and likely won’t, due to the hard cap.

The high-profile, high-priced guards aren’t really options.

The timing of the injury left the team scrambling, desperate for answers. So much that they changed Amen Thompson’s position, in hopes of a quick fix solution.

Or tried to. Injuries can oftentimes cause that type of response. Especially for high impact players.

Denver Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic hasn’t suited up in a month and he was having his best season, which feels crazy to type.

Golden State Warriors star forward Jimmy Butler is the latest high-profile player to suffer a significant injury, as he went down in the Warriors’ 135-112 victory over the Miami Heat.

Like VanVleet, Butler suffered a torn ACL, which will surely sideline him for the entirety of the rest of the season.

And like the Rockets, Golden State doesn’t have an avenue of replacing him.

The 36-year-old has averaged 20 points, 5.6 rebounds, 4.9 assists, 51.9 percent, 37.6 percent from deep, 86.4 percent from the foul line and 64.6 percent true shooting.

It’s just another harsh reminder of the reality of sports. Every team is just one major injury away from being non-contenders.

Or fighting to overcome losing a key player that significantly increases their chances of being contenders, which is what the Rockets have been doing all season.

And what the Warriors will be forced to do for the rest of the way.