Rockets Have Been One of the Worst Contending Teams Since the All-Star Break

The Houston Rockets entered the 2025-26 NBA season as viable title contenders. Especially following the Kevin Durant acquisition, which was viewed as the Rockets going all in by adding one of the greatest players in league history.

Durant was also viewed as the missing piece to take the Rockets over the top and give them their best chance of challenging the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Rockets hovered around the top-three seed in the Western Conference for months and held the top offensive rating in the league for an extensive period of time.

That seems like months ago, at this point in the season. In fact, it almost seems like an entire season ago. Or several seasons ago.

These days, the Rockets hold the sixth seed in the Western Conference, pitting them against the Los Angeles Lakers in the opening round of the 2026 postseason. This version of the Rockets is a shell of the previous version that was exhibited just five months ago.

Well, actually it wasn't even that long ago. Since the trade deadline, the Rockets haven't been able to bank on their formula from earlier in the season.

And according to Bleacher Report's Greg Swartz, they've been one of three teams that have disappointed in a major way since the All-Star break. Swartz explained.

"The Houston Rockets chose to sit on their hands at the trade deadline.

Houston tried to offset the loss of Fred VanVleet to a torn ACL by rolling out mega-lineups and suffocating teams on defense and on the glass.

Houston is just 10-9 with a plus-0.0 net rating since the trade deadline. An 18th-ranked offense is still far too reliant on a 37-year-old Kevin Durant, who's playing 36 minutes a night."

The writer continued.

"The point guard-less Rockets rank dead last in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.41) since the deadline, with Durant, Alperen Şengün, and Amen Thompson coughing the ball up nearly 10 times a game alone.

The ammo was there to get a starting point guard.

The game plan is out on how to stop the Rockets....routinely double-teaming Durant and forcing someone else to beat them.

This offense will continue to struggle because of Houston's lack of trade deadline moves."

The Rockets rank 24th in points since the All-Star break and 24th in 3-point percentage. Buy and large, you can't call the Rockets' season a disappointment.

They've faced a significant string of injuries. How much different would this team look with Steven Adams and Fred VanVleet? The Rockets have been a relatively top-heavy team, due in part to injury.

It shouldn't be surprising that they've faded down the stretch. And it's also not a guarantee that they'd be immensely better if they would've traded for a point guard at the deadline.