The Houston Rockets Played a Part in the Houston Comets Era Ending but Now Can Make It Right

Before 1995, Houston sports suffered heartbreak after heartbreak when it came to bringing a major sports championship to the city. The Houston Oilers, Rockets, Astros, and even the Houston Cougars had all suffered heart-wrenching losses at big moments up until that 1994 season. All the heartbreak and bad losses are what made the 1994-95 Rockets season that much more special.

The Rockets were coming off a tough seven-game loss to the Seattle SuperSonics the year before, but it all came together the following season. The Rockets started the season on a 15-game winning streak and went on to win the city's first-ever championship. They weren't done as they would go on to win back-to-back championships. The town went from choke city to Clutch City.

The Rockets were the first team to win a major sports championship in Houston, but were not the only championship team in the 90s. The Rockets' counterparts in the WNBA would go beyond what the Rockets did, going back-to-back-to-back-to-back in the first four seasons of the new WNBA.

Cynthia Cooper, Sheryl Swoopes, and Tina Thompson formed the best trio in the WNBA, as they were the first dynasty in Houston and the WNBA. Even though the 2000 season was the last championship they would ever win, they had become the most decorated team in Houston sports history. That 2000 season was also the beginning of the end for the franchise.

The Houston Rockets Sell of the Comets Was the Final Nail in the Coffin for the Franchise

After four championships and being the first dynasty in WNBA history, the Comets were sold to Hilton Koch by then-Rockets owner Leslie Alexander in January 2007. Koch was a Houston furniture owner and businessman.

Van Chancellor, the legendary head coach of the Comets, retired just before the sale to coach the LSU women's basketball team, marking the end of an era.

Koch was not the right person to buy the team, as he couldn't keep it competitive and eventually move it from the Toyota Center to the Reliant Center, which doomed the team, as Koch was losing $4 millon a year.

After only two years, the WNBA took control of the team when Koch couldn't find a buyer for the team. Initially, the WNBA claimed it was only temporary until they found a buyer. However, once they sent the Comets players to other teams, that was the end of the Comets.

To add insult to injury, the final ever home game was moved from Reliant Arena to the campus of Texas State due to Hurricane Ike, so the final Comets home game wasn't even in Houston. BTW, the Comets won their last three games but fell short of the playoffs.

One of those last three wins was over the Connecticut Suns, 75-68.

The WNBA dissolved the franchise shortly after and up until December of 2025 their wasn't much hope of a team coming back to Houston. That all changed with the news of the Rockets possibly bringing the Connecticut Suns to Houston possibly soon as 2027.

Breaking: Houston Rockets ownership is in substantive talks with the Connecticut Sun over the potential purchase and relocation of the WNBA franchise, sources told me and @ramonashelburne pic.twitter.com/FzUV4yTat3
— Alexa Philippou (@alexaphilippou) December 19, 2025

That would bring the WNBA in Houston full circle as it seems inevitable that Houston fans will be able to watch WNBA basketball in its city for the first time in a long time.