It goes without saying that it takes a lot to become an NBA franchise owner, and the most important aspect is the financial capability to afford one and to actually keep it afloat.<\/p>\n
While most NBA franchises have ownership groups, there are about a dozen that are owned by a single individual, including the\u00a0Houston Rockets<\/a>, currently owned by Tilman Fertitta.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n A proud Texas native and self-proclaimed long-time fan, Fertitta purchased the franchise back in 2017 for $2.2 billion. For him, owning the Rockets wasn’t simply about expanding his portfolio, but rather it was the realization of a lifelong dream.<\/p>\n “Honestly, nothing even compares. Nothing compares whatsoever. This is the ultimate. It’s the ultimate,”\u00a0Fertitta\u00a0said<\/a> during the introductory press conference back in 2017.\u00a0“You’re in a club of 30. Anybody can go build a boardwalk, anybody can build an aquarium, anybody can build tall buildings, but not everybody gets to own an NBA franchise.”\u00a0<\/p>\n From fan to owner<\/p>\n The 68-year-old\u00a0Fertitta<\/a>, who made his fortune as a restaurateur and hospitality mogul, owns multiple big-name businesses, including the Golden Nugget Casinos and Landry’s, and is a self-proclaimed long-time Rockets fan, even before they relocated to Houston.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n “I started listening to the San Diego Rockets when I was junior high school when they said they were moving to Houston, Texas, with Elvin Hayes,”\u00a0Fertitta shared.\u00a0“That’s when I became a Houston Rockets fan, when they were in San Diego, so I’ve been on the ride from the beginning.”<\/p>\n Fertitta initially attempted to purchase the franchise back in 1993, but was outbid by Les Alexander. And while his initial bid to own the Rockets came up short, Fertitta says he was still very much involved with the team thanks to his friendship with Alexander.<\/p>\n “Les kept me involved with the team. I have the two championship rings from ’93 and ’94, but this is a different feeling, let me just tell you guys. I feel very special that this opportunity came to me,” Fertitta said of finally having ownership of the team.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n The glory days of the Rockets<\/p>\n Fertitta’s arrival as owner came at a time when the Rockets were once again relevant, thanks to the MVP-calibre play of then-franchise star\u00a0James Harden<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Rockets had fallen into obscurity following the Tracy McGrady-Yao Ming era in the mid-to-late 2000s and had missed the postseason for three straight years before Harden’s arrival in 2012. When “The Beard” was given the keys to the kingdom in H-Town, the Rockets went on to make the playoffs for eight consecutive seasons, which included two trips to the Western Conference Semifinals.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n When Fertitta assumed ownership, the Rockets had just acquired All-Star point guard Chris Paul, and they would go on to finish a franchise-best 65-17 season record, and push the defending champion Golden State Warriors to seven games in the West finals.<\/p>\n Unfortunately for Fertitta and the Rockets, that would be the closest that they’d get to becoming champions again. The Rockets made the playoffs but suffered second-round exits in each of the next two seasons, and the Harden Era would end in 2021.<\/p>\n Related: “Imagine you have Giannis instead of Draymond\u2026” – Dillon Brooks says he\u2019s heard Giannis Antetokounmpo could join the Warriors<\/a><\/p>\n A new era in H-Town<\/p>\n While the Rockets went on to\u00a0struggle<\/a>\u00a0for the next handful of seasons, they began to slowly build a talented core of young players. In 2025, this young core, led by Alperen Sengun, Amen Thompson, Jalen Green and Jabari Smith Jr., led the Rockets back to the postseason for the first time since 2020.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Last summer, the Rockets pulled off another blockbuster trade, bringing in two-time champion and former league MVP\u00a0Kevin Durant<\/a>\u00a0and possibly marking a new era of relevance in Rockets basketball.<\/p>\n From back-to-back titles to the T-Mac and Yao seasons, to the Harden era, and now the KD era, the Rockets have had their fair share of ups and downs, and in one capacity or another, Fertitta has been with the team from the beginning.<\/p>\n Related: Mike Bibby reveals Chris Webber never paid his Madden gambling debt: “I used to beat the sh-t out of him”<\/a><\/p>\n This story was originally published by Basketball Network<\/a> on Feb 9, 2026, where it first appeared in the Off The Court<\/a> section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It goes without saying that it takes a lot to become an NBA franchise owner, and the most…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":591980,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3794],"tags":[1307,883,7,2596,164,527,292,194,4066,2497,861,938,79354,6,211,7474],"class_list":{"0":"post-591979","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-amen-thompson","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-chris-paul","12":"tag-golden-state-warriors","13":"tag-harden","14":"tag-houston","15":"tag-houston-rockets","16":"tag-houstonrockets","17":"tag-jabari-smith-jr","18":"tag-jalen-green","19":"tag-kevin-durant","20":"tag-les-alexander","21":"tag-nba","22":"tag-rockets","23":"tag-tilman-fertitta"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116039315881062487","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591979","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=591979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/591980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=591979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=591979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=591979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}