The curtains only just closed on the Houston Rockets' 2024-25 NBA season, but the team's first-round playoff loss to the Golden State Warriors on Sunday officially commenced an intriguing offseason. The Rockets kept their roster intact at the trade deadline this season en route to earning a playoff berth as the West's No.

The Houston Rockets should be greedy. The team's remarkable trajectory went from 22 wins in 2022-23 to 41 last year, followed by 51 and the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference. The learning experience through the first-round series by the Jimmy Butler-fueled Golden State Warriors has been invaluable (regardless of outcome),

When Fred VanVleet left the Toronto Raptors after seven years and a championship in 2023 to join the Houston Rockets, he did so to become the veteran leader of a young, rising team in the Western Conference.