Will Fred VanVleet be the Same Player for the Rockets Next Season?

If you've watched the Houston Rockets at all this season, one thing has certainly stood out. They need a table-setting guard.

It would do them wonders. It would help Kevin Durant, as the Rockets oftentimes struggle to get him the ball. Which is putting it politely.

Houston has had Durant bring the ball up the court a ton and it's led to a good amount of turnovers. Because Durant isn't a point guard.

Alperen Sengun has been Houston’s table-setter in the half court, averaging a team-leading 6.1 assists, but even he would benefit from having a point guard. He's still a center, at the end of the day.

They need a floor general to get them the ball in their preferred spots. It would also make life easier for Amen Thompson, as it would allow him to stay in the dunker spot, which we've seen of late, to be fair, when Reed Sheppard got inserted into the starting lineup.

The presence of Sheppard has helped to mitigate the issue, but he's not a traditional table-setting guard either. He's just the closest from a skillset perspective to Fred VanVleet.

VanVleet's value from many within the Rockets fanbase wasn't as high as it clearly needed to be. Until the 2025 postseason, in which he went toe-to-toe with Golden State Warriors sharpshooting superstar Stephen Curry.

VanVleet made over 43 percent of his outside attempts, while Curry shot 39.2 percent, coming through for the Rockets whenever they needed a big shot or big moment.

VanVleet also consistently ranks near the top of the league in assist-to-turnover ratio, which is arguably one of the best metrics available to gauge a traditional point guard.

This season's Rockets don't value or maximize offensive possessions, as they are rather careless with the ball. In fact, the Rockets rank bottom-three in turnovers in the league.

We know he won't be returning this season. Udoka even said as much.

But can we assume VanVleet will be the same player next season? The Rockets seem to think so, as they've refrained from adding another point guard to the roster.

For what it's worth, VanVleet seems to not have any doubt at all.

“I’m going to come back better than I ever been." VanVleet took to his Unguarded podcast to publicly proclaim.

He'll be 32-years-old, in his 11th year since entering the NBA in 2016. And coming off a major injury to his lower extremities.

Even without the ACL tear, VanVleet was likely going to be even less athletic at 32 than he was at 27. But add the return from injury and he's likely to be even more diminished.

Certainly at the onset. The good thing is that VanVleet wasn't an uber-athletic force to start with. But it should be far from an assumption that VanVleet will return to the All-Star version of himself, even if he is confident about returning to full strength.