{"id":588494,"date":"2026-02-07T15:11:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T15:11:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/588494\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T15:11:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T15:11:14","slug":"are-the-no-trade-houston-rockets-still-in-the-contender-club","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/588494\/","title":{"rendered":"Are The No-Trade Houston Rockets Still In The Contender Club?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Houston Rockets will play the reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder for the third time this season on Saturday night. After a trade deadline that saw the Rockets make zero adjustments, will they show up for the big matchup? Even with the absence of the Thunder\u2019s reigning MVP, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander<\/a>, the game should tell us something. For one thing, are the Houston Rockets still serious about contending in 2025-26?<\/p>\n

Will The No-Trade Rockets Renew Fans\u2019 Hope Versus Thunder?<\/p>\n

The Rockets and Thunder first met this season on opening night<\/a>. That was a back-and-forth contest that came down to the final possession. In hindsight, losing to the reigning champs by a single point might be the highlight of Rockets\u2019 fans\u2019 season.<\/p>\n

More recently, the Rockets lost by 10<\/a> at their own arena. They did hold 2026 MVP front-runner SGA to an unusually low 20 points. The Rockets struggled mightily to score themselves, however, shooting just 33.7% from the field.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the main thing Houston should be looking to prove on Saturday night. Much is made of the defensive acumen of SGA compared with other notable MVP candidates. Even so, his absence should not greatly affect the Thunder\u2019s number 1 defensive rating<\/a>. The main potentially meaningful difference would be that the Thunder may have to defend more fast-break opportunities. They won\u2019t have SGA\u2019s shot-making and trips to the free-throw line to break up their opponent\u2019s momentum.<\/p>\n

But the Rockets don\u2019t exactly excel in transition anyway. The Rockets are 22nd in the league in fast-break points<\/a>, funnily enough, just behind the Thunder. They don\u2019t really excel in any offensive categories except their comically over-specialised<\/a> first-place offensive rebounding<\/a> percentage. Even that has taken a hit with the season-ending injury to key piece Kiwi, Steven Adams<\/a> (4.5 offensive rebounds per game). The Rockets are second-last in assist\/turnover ratio<\/a> and 20th in effective field goal percentage<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rockets Skip The Deadline
\n\"Feb 5, 2026; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Rockets center Alperen Sengun (28) dribbles against Charlotte Hornets forward Miles Bridges (0) during the first quarter at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Erik Williams-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The Rockets chose to forgo moves to improve their offense at the trade deadline. Straight away, in the very next game \u2013 a Thursday night<\/a> clash against the Charlotte Hornets \u2013 that decision looked like a mistake. The Rockets lost 109-99, and it wasn\u2019t that close. They never led, and the benches were emptied with 7:44 remaining<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Of particular note was the Rockets\u2019 star player scoring 7 points on 3-for-11 shooting from the field. Said star (though not All-Star<\/a>) Alperen Sengun<\/a> had one of his worst games of the season against the Hornets. He was pilloried for his defensive effort as well as his woeful efficiency. When asked about Sengun being targeted on defense<\/a>, defense-first head coach Ime Udoka made no effort to hide his frustrations with that particular issue. In fairness to Sengun, most centers are targeted on the perimeter, and that\u2019s going to be especially the case for a roster as heavily-skewed towards wing-defense as Houston\u2019s. Showcasing just how reliant Houston is on Sengun\u2019s offensive production, the big man still had the best plus\/minus of the starting unit.<\/p>\n

Can the Rockets Find A Way To Score?<\/p>\n

The Rockets are still 31-19, but they need to show that they can score against playoff-level defenses for fans to hold onto any glimmer of hope for the postseason. Maybe the Hornets game was an aberration of some kind. Maybe the team was thinking ahead to the Thunder game, or still stuck in the headspace of scrolling through trade news. Alternatively, fans could hope that the bad loss will kindle another level of pride among the players. Or maybe, just that someone other than Kevin Durant<\/a> will just have a rare hot shooting night.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Realistically, the way the Rockets are currently constructed, the team will not be making a deep playoff run this season. It\u2019s not entirely the front office\u2019s fault. Luck played a part. They lost both Adams and starting point guard Fred VanVleet<\/a> to season-ending injuries. Of course, it seems unlikely that even those two being healthy would solve all of Houston\u2019s offensive problems. Regardless, with no trade at the deadline, most Rockets fans will be waiting on the off-season for any major improvement. Don\u2019t be surprised if there\u2019s a growing contingent calling for another kind of offensive tune-up in the meantime, though. From this point on, Udoka is sitting on rocket fuel.<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Erik Williams-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Houston Rockets will play the reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder for the third time this season on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":588495,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3794],"tags":[1307,7,292,194,4066,1272,6,211,962],"class_list":{"0":"post-588494","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston-rockets","8":"tag-alperen-sengun","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-houston","11":"tag-houston-rockets","12":"tag-houstonrockets","13":"tag-ime-udoka","14":"tag-nba","15":"tag-rockets","16":"tag-steven-adams"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116029993478420455","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=588494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588494\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/588495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=588494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=588494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=588494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}