Rockets in a Tier by Themselves in Latest Power Rankings

The Houston Rockets have generally been one of the better teams in the Western Conference over the last two years. In 2024-25, the Rockets jumped off the porch and surprised everyone, en route to a second-place finish in the conference during the regular season.

This season, the Rockets currently rank fourth in the conference and boast a 20-10 record. There are definitely warts.

We can't pretend that there aren't. But they can be ironed out.

Every team has warts.

But at 30 games, they aren't all that concerning.

For example, the Rockets have generally been one of the league's better defenses. They anchor down on that end.

This month, however, they rank 17th in defensive efficiency. And they've recently progressed to that.

On the season, they rank eighth.

Getting both Tari Eason and Dorian Finney-Smith back finally healthy will help immensely on that end.

Offensively, Houston’s approach has been to nab second chance points by getting extra possessions and a litany of offensive rebounds.

Houston is the best offensive rebounding team in NBA history. And that will remain, assuming full health, thanks in large part to Steven Adams, who is easily one of the greatest offensive rebounders in league history.

Again, the Rockets are in a bright spot, buy and large. They landed their prized superstar in Kevin Durant, which they've been in pursuit of for a long time and his star is still bright, even at age 37.

He's averaging 25.5 points, five rebounds, 4.3 assists, 52.2 percent from the field, 43.7 percent from long-range, 89.4 percent from the foul line, 58.4 percent effective field goal percentage and 64.6 percent true shooting.

The Rockets' other superstar, Alperen Sengun, is one of the top players at the center position, with a statline of 22.7 points, 9.4 rebounds, 6.8 assists and 50.8 percent from the floor.

Sengun leads the Rockets in both assists and rebounds and ranks second, behind only Durant, in scoring.

According to Law Murray of The Athletic, the Rockets are in a good place, which Murray has them in a tier all by themselves.

The writer explained.

"The Rockets returned to the postseason in 2025, and they earned a Game 7 at home against the Golden State Warriors, only to succumb due to a lack of shooting and easy buckets. Houston went from that Game 7 to a seven-team trade, landing Kevin Durant, who found out about the move while on stage in New York during Fanatics Fest. The Rockets hit a rough patch while losing games to each of the bottom-five teams in the West, but they ran circles around the Los Angeles Lakers on Christmas while coming home and blowing out the Cleveland Cavaliers without Alperen Şengün."

Houston closes 2025 with a game against the Brooklyn Nets. All told, the Rockets are 7-6 in the month of December entering the match.