Rockets Boast Just One Player in Latest Top-25 Player Rankings

It's been said before that the Houston Rockets were a relatively top-heavy ball club last season. The Rockets had just one All-NBA player this past season in Kevin Durant.

And his placement wasn't much of a debate. Or, at least it shouldn't have been. Durant finished fourth in scoring (2026 total points), second in minutes played and sixth in 30-point games, while shooting 52 percent from the field, 41.3 percent from long-range, 87.4 percent from the foul line, 64.1 percent true shooting and 58.8 percent effective shooting.

Unsurprisingly, Durant ranked inside of the top ten in the latest top 25 rankings put together by the panel of basketball enthusiasts and experts at the Player's Choice. Durant ranked ninth.

We ranked the Top 25 players from the 2025-26 Regular Season + Playoffs… 🍿

Who did we miss? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/gkhgPk5wqJ
— Players Choice (@PlayersChoice_) June 20, 2026

Prior to the start of the 2025-26 season, Durant ranked tenth by the same panel and publication. The latest iteration of the list was said to be based on a combination of both the regular season and postseason play. The interesting thing about the list is that Durant was the only Rockets player on the entire list.

Which begs the question of whether the Rockets should have had more representation on the list. The only other players that one would think would garner consideration were Amen Thompson and Alperen Sengun.

The greatest case for top 25 consideration would seem to be Sengun --between he and Thompson. After all, Sengun has made two All-Star teams in just as many seasons (although he was a late addition this past season, as an injury replacement).

And has been consistently viewed as a top-ten player at his position. In fact, just one year ago, there were conversations about Sengun being one of the best hoopers in the world, following his showing at last year's EuroBasket tournament.

The list, however, only featured five centers: Victor Wembanyama (who ranked first), Nikola Jokic (who ranked third), Karl Anthony-Towns (who ranked 12th), Bam Adebayo (who ranked 19th) and Jalen Duren (who ranked 23rd).

Even the biggest Sengun fan would have to admit that he doesn't rank ahead of these five players. Not yet, at least.

But it's not out of the realm of possibility that Sengun could leap frog several big men here. Granted, two of them --Wembanyama and Jokic -- belong in their own tier of centers. Sengun will likely never surpass those two, but they're already regarded as potential all-time greats, so that's not an insult, although it's probably to early to give Wembanyama such a claim.

Sengun being left off these types of lists hasn't seemed to bother him. In fact, he likely won't ever notice. But it wouldn't be a bad thing if it lights a fire under him, especially since he's already started training for the summer.

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