The Houston Rockets have major decisions to make this summer, particularly from a roster construction standpoint. Rockets General Manager Rafael Stone was one of the more active front office executives last offseason, yet the Rockets were eliminated in the Western Conference Quarterfinals once again.
Surely Stone didn’t have that in mind. The team posted an identical 52-30 record this season as well.
Granted, that could be viewed as a success, depending on who you ask, due to the myriad of injuries faced by the team. But in the postseason, Houston ran into to an injury-riddled Los Angeles Lakers squad and were outgunned.
In a major way. So much that the Rockets fell to an 0-3 hole, which is essentially a death sentence. The Rockets’ young core disappointed in a major way, as they were outplayed by the likes of Deandre Ayton, Luke Kennard and Marcus Smart — each of whom are journeymen at the tail end of their respective careers.
Houston will need to add shotmakers (and shot takers, alike), as possessions for the Rockets often ended in a desperation shot attempt by Kevin Durant. Especially during the regular season.
The Rockets also need playmaking guards and guards capable of initiating offense for themselves. Not to mention Houston’s need for outside shooters, as the Rockets lost the math game essentially every night.
Only two teams attempted fewer outside shots than the Rockets’ 31.5 attempts. One player who could be available this summer and who checks all of those boxes for the Rockets is Dallas Mavericks nine-time All-Star guard Kyrie Irving.
Irving missed the entirety of the 2025-26 season, as he recovered from a torn ACL suffered during the 2024-25 season. On Saturday, Irving took to Twitch to declare himself nearly fully recovered from the ACL injury.
“I am definitely close to being over at 100% in terms of my ACL recovery. It’s been a while now…I’m so grateful that I’ve had the time to heal & just experiment with my body more on the court and off the court in the weight room & just pushing myself to the limit.”
The Rockets are rumored to be interested in Irving and rightfully so. Again, he checks all of the boxes for them.
And Rockets coach Ime Udoka has somewhat developed a history of targeting players that he’s previously coached. Like Durant.
And Boston Celtics wing Jaylen Brown. It’ll be interesting to see what happens with Irving this offseason.