Houston Rockets Season Player Review: Jalen Green

The Houston Rockets are coming off their most successful season in the last five years. Despite a disappointing first-round loss to the Golden State Warriors, the Houston Rockets had a lot to be encouraged about this past season.

The Rockets saw improvement across the board from their young core of talent. Alperen Sengun made his first-ever All-Star game, Amen Thompson went from a rookie on the rise to one of the best defensive players in the NBA, and players like Jabari Smith and Tari Eason continued to show that they could contribute to a winning team.

One other young player who had improved this season was Jalen Green. Despite not having the playoff debut he was hoping for, Green showed this season, especially during the regular season, that he could be a consistent scorer and not just someone who shows up in March.

Green has had an up-and-down start to his career with the Rockets. The No. 2 overall pick in the 2021 draft was the heir apparent to former MVP James Harden. Green was one of the original players of the Rockets' rebuild and had to deal with a team that was in the midst of changing its entire roster.

Green was part of a Rockets team that had the worst three-year stretch in franchise history, which eventually led to the Rockets hiring a new coach in Ime Udoka and adding more veteran leadership on the court to help the Rockets move on to the next phase.

With the shift to a more veteran-led team, we started to see a positive change in Green's production. Green finished the 2023-24 season leading the Rockets to 11 straight victories in March, many of which came after Sengun went down.

Green stated after the last game of the 2023-24 season that the Rockets' goal for the next season was to make the playoffs. Green started the 2024-25 season just as he finished the previous season, showing improvement across the board.

Green would go on to win the NBA Player of the Week award twice in the 2024-25 season. He showed improvement not just as an overall scorer but also on the defensive end. He helped the Rockets finish as one of the best defensive teams in the NBA.

Green improved his points per game, 3-point shooting, defensive rating and free throw shooting from the previous season. Green's consistent play during the regular season had him in consideration for an All-Star selection, even though he wouldn't make the roster.

Unfortunately, in his first-ever playoff series, he had more down than up games against the Warriors. Green had a forgettable Game 1, only scoring seven points in the Rockets' 95-85 loss. In Game 2, Green bounced back and had probably one of the best games of his entire career, scoring 38 points and leading the Rockets to a 109-94 win, evening the best-of-seven series.

That was Green's last good game of the series, as the Warriors made it a point to trap Green on every pick-and-roll and force him to pass out of a double team. The result was Green scoring a combined 48 points in the last five games, and the Rockets eventually lost in seven games.

Green said after Game 7 that he had to play better and couldn't let teams take him out of the game. Despite his underwhelming playoff performance, Green had his most consistent overall season. He now enters the most crucial season of his career as he looks to go from a player with potential to the star the Rockets were hoping for when they drafted him four seasons ago.