As the Houston Rockets enter the 2025-26 NBA season, their hopes for making a run at a championship will be entirely dependent upon their young core's ability to coalesce around superstar Kevin Durant, eliminating many of the weaknesses that led to their playoff demise at the hands of the Golden State Warriors last season.
According to Rockets' Analyst Paulo Alves, on the latest episode of the Rockets LaunchPod podcast, they have shown this precise improvement through their first two preseason games, and, if players such as Sengun and Thompson can truly clean up their games this season, Houston could catapult themselves right back into championship.