The Christmas Day showdown between the Rockets and Lakers will feature the NBA\u2019s top-two small forwards of the 2025-26 season, according to HoopsHype\u2019s latest rankings.<\/p>\n
In HoopsHype\u2019s rankings of expected production for the 2025-26 NBA season, the Houston Rockets<\/a> have Fred VanVleet at No. 17 among point guards<\/a> and Amen Thompson at No. 7 among shooting guards.<\/p>\n They\u2019re even higher than that at small forward, and it\u2019s largely why the Rockets have emerged as a championship contender<\/a>.<\/p>\n Kevin Durant, who earned his 15th career All-Star honor last season, checks in at No. 2 on the small-forward rankings. HoopsHype\u2019s explanation<\/a>:<\/p>\n For how much things change in the NBA, sometimes, they also stay the same, and these next two players are a great example of that. Even with the NBA\u2019s always-shifting strategies based on analytics, somehow, someway,\u00a0Kevin Durant\u00a0and\u00a0LeBron James\u00a0remain the best small forwards in basketball, in our estimation.\u00a0<\/p>\n Last season, Durant was\u00a0one of just six players<\/a>\u00a0to put up a 26\/6\/4 stat line, and did so while shooting an astronomical 43 percent from three. According to VORP and BPM, Durant was roughly a\u00a0Top 30<\/a>\u00a0player in the league.\u00a0<\/p>\n Can he still be the best player on a championship team?\u00a0We\u2019re about to find out, as Durant joins a strong Houston team replete with players that have either championship experience like\u00a0Fred VanVleet, or have loads of promise like\u00a0Amen Thompson\u00a0and\u00a0Alperen Sengun.\u00a0<\/p>\n Joining a well-rounded team with toughness and skill on both ends of the floor, if Durant is still an All-NBA-level player and a ceiling raiser for a team, he should be able to prove it in 2025-26… as he won\u2019t be forced to endure as much of the two-way load as he did with the Phoenix Suns.<\/p>\n The only small forward ranked ahead of Durant is James, and the two future Hall of Famers will face off on Christmas Day<\/a> in a primetime showdown between the Rockets and Los Angeles Lakers.<\/p>\n Houston (52-30) and Los Angeles (50-32) finished as the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds in last season\u2019s Western Conference standings, and both teams are hopeful of more growth in 2025-26 amid the first full season of Luka Doncic with the Lakers and Durant\u2019s recent arrival in Houston.<\/p>\n