A likely season-ending injury for any player, let alone emotional leader Fred VanVleet, is not what the Houston Rockets had in mind when the team met for a mini-camp in the Bahamas ahead of training camp in just over a week.
Houston has little in the way of a contingency plan when it comes to its guard depth. It is also hamstrung financially as the team doesn’t have enough room under the first-apron hard cap to sign another player currently. Unless the Rockets clear salary in a trade that most likely won’t happen before Dec. 15, they’re stuck.
They will like receive a disabled player exception worth approximately $14 million. Still, they can only use it after first addressing their current first-apron situation.
It really did appear the Rockets positioned themselves as a top contender after the Kevin Durant trade alongside the Oklahoma City Thunder, Denver Nuggets, Cleveland Cavaliers and New York Knicks. This is a splash of cold water far too early in the morning on that dream.
VanVleet made himself a fundamental piece of head coach Ime Udoka’s defense-first, hard-nosed culture, perhaps even serving as a fulcrum. His tenacious defense, volume outside shooting and assured ball-handling will be sorely missed.
Here are the key factors that will determine how well Houston can overcome his absence.
Say Amen To Point Thompson Without VanVleet
Last season, Amen Thompson saw some primary ball-handling opportunities with mixed results. The Rockets scored 0.84 points per possession in 150 possessions with him as a pick-and-roll ball handler, which is just a tad lower than VanVleet’s 0.87 mark (328 possessions).
Initially slotted as the team’s shooting guard with Dillon Brooks and Jalen Green shipped out, Point Thompson will now need to become a thing.
It was a breakout season of sorts for Thompson a year ago. His season-long numbers don’t scream full-fledged breakout as he was well under 30 minutes per game until a Jabari Smith injury brought an increase in role and dependence. A 33-point night in Boston highlighted the best of what he can provide in a prominent role.
🎥🏀: Amen Thompson career high 33 pts v. Celtics last season
Check out the film broken down from Amen’s 33 pt game + game winner last season. You’ll note that at his best Amen
🚀 Is elite at finishing off 2 feet!
🚀 Actually Takes advantage of defense playing off him and… pic.twitter.com/GhdFyoKpss— Jake (@Jake_vanalstine) September 22, 2025
Once again, injury is set to amplify his significance to the Rockets’ competitive ceiling. Not that he needs it, Thompson is a defensive superstar who is scratching the surface of his offensive ceiling. This opportunity has the potential to actualize that sooner than anticipated. That will be the Rockets’ hope, anyway.
Reed Sheppard isn’t ready for a starting role but Dorian Finney-Smith is more than capable. They could now go very big in the starting lineup with Thompson, Finney-Smith, Kevin Durant, Jabari Smith and Alperen Sengun.
In terms of role, Durant will be an efficient version of Jalen Green as a primary scorer. Finney-Smith slots into the Dillon Brooks role quite nicely as well. Three-point volume and spacing will be of most concern in this iteration of the starting lineup. Thompson will never be the shooter VanVleet is and Durant shoots fewer threes than someone as efficient as he is should.
Smith will be an X-factor with his spacing presence and the consistency of his outside shooting.
Sengun’s Playmaking Becomes Pivotal In VanVleet’s Absence
The Rockets would be facing an even more stark reality if they didn’t have one of the best playmaking bigs in the entire Association.
Now, to be sure, despite the “Baby Jokic” nickname, he will not be bringing the ball up the floor time and time again. Last season, he only recorded 54 possessions as the pick-and-roll ball-handler. That doesn’t come close to sniffing the 279 possessions he recorded as the roller in a pick-and-roll.
Sengun’s playmaking stems from making decisions at the elbows or post. He is too good of a scorer to be left in single coverage and consistently makes the right decision out of double-teams. Only Jokic and Ivica Zubac had more post-up possessions than him last season. The Rockets produced a very solid 1.05 PPP in that setting.
Alperen Sengun LIFTED OFF in Year 4.
🚀 Led Rockets to No. 2 seed
🚀 First NBA All-Star appearance
🚀 Unreal playmakingWhat’s in store for Houston in 2025-26?? pic.twitter.com/W4CtvUYLPC
— NBA (@NBA) August 21, 2025
That’s why the Durant acquisition matters so much. Arguably the most efficient scorer of the modern era, defenses will be forced to pick their poison in actions involving the two.
Thompson is a very good cutter and Finney-Smith will be ready to spot up from deep, having converted 38 percent of his threes since 2019-20. The Rockets can evaluate what different situations demand with regards to a fifth member of various lineups, whether it be Smith, Sheppard or even Aaron Holiday.
Durant must be wondering what he must do to have the cushion of a reliable ball-handler, though. He couldn’t play often enough with James Harden or Kyrie Irving in Brooklyn and didn’t have one of significance in Phoenix. Perhaps, this is the curse of leaving Stephen Curry.
How Much Can Sheppard Handle In Elevated Role?
Selected third overall in the 2024 NBA Draft, Sheppard had a difficult path to cracking the Rockets’ deep rotation as a rookie last season. Known for a great shooting pedigree, the 21-year-old only made 33.8 percent of his 142 3-point attempts and 37.1 percent of his twos.
Can he suddenly elevate himself to become a starting-caliber player? If the Rockets don’t want to go big, starting Sheppard and easing his ball-handling responsibilities is something they’ll be considering.
Sheppard, in theory, could provide them with exactly the outside shooting they need in VanVleet’s absence. It’s asking a lot out of a second-year player — possibly too much, considering the stakes of wanting to contend for a championship.
Like with Thompson, though, this could be an opportunity to accelerate Sheppard’s growth through added responsibility. Give him a baptism by fire for a couple months, see how he and the team fare, and make decisions if needed come Dec. 15.
VanVleet, Smith, Finney-Smith, Steven Adams and Clint Capela, among others, are ineligible for trade until then.
Early Verdict
This feels like a devastating blow to the Rockets’ title hopes.
Guard depth was always going to be one of their major concerns, which has since been laid bare. VanVleet may shoot more than people like but he generally gets the team in its correct spots and takes good care of the ball. The absences of that and his volume shooting leave too much to be desired from Thompson, Sheppard and Smith.
Houston should still be very good, perhaps even great. What it wanted to be this year is a champion, however, and that feels a step too far without VanVleet.
It’s also significant to note the Rockets are now missing two critical pieces of their culture change in VanVleet and Brooks. Durant has shown in previous stops he is a great player without necessarily bringing along leadership intangibles.
Are Sengun and Thompson ready to take on that mantle as well?
If they are, it’ll be one of the stories of the season, cementing the Rockets among the NBA’s elite with their on- and off-court efforts.
