“I will give you an inside betting tip that I think continuity is very, very likely,” Rockets general manager Rafael Stone told reporters at Tuesday’s end-of-season press conference.
Though the Houston Rockets have long been rumored as a potential marquee trade suitor in the 2025 NBA offseason, general manager Rafael Stone said at Tuesday’s end-of-season press conference that roster continuity is likely a safer bet.
“I will give you an inside betting tip that I think continuity is very, very likely,” Stone told reporters. “Last summer, we didn’t make changes because we were really comfortable with where we were, and we’d seen really good things from our team in terms of kind of a good progression. And I think we saw more of the same this year. So I think the bar to make changes is very high.”
The case for relative stability is easily understandable. The Rockets (52-30) finished with the NBA’s fourth-best record and as the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference, and the majority of Houston’s roster is young. They have seven first-round picks (Alperen Sengun, Jalen Green, Jabari Smith Jr., Tari Eason, Amen Thompson, Cam Whitmore, and Reed Sheppard) from the last four NBA draft cycles, and all are currently 23 years old or younger.
So, the team is already starting from a relatively high 52-30 baseline, and significant portions of its roster are at a point in their careers where further growth and development is likely. Thus, combining assets to trade for an older, more expensive player with fewer prime seasons left is risky.
Last season, the Rockets were 41-41 and No. 11 in the West, which represents significant year-on-year growth and a clear upward trajectory.
Then again, if the player is elite enough (perhaps Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo, a perennial All-Star and league MVP candidate) to perhaps lift Houston into immediate title contention, Stone did leave some wiggle room.
“The goal ultimately is to build a championship team,” Stone said. “If we think there’s a move or series of moves that make it more likely we will be that, then we would ignore continuity, and we’d do those moves.”
Earlier this week, the Rockets were eliminated in a hard-fought, seven-game playoff series loss to Golden State.
“The business we’re in, nobody’s untouchable,” Stone said. “But we deeply value everyone on our roster. We have those (future) picks, we accumulated them so we could draft guys or upgrade our current roster. We’ll see what makes the most sense.”
“Plan A has always been to develop within our group.”