Houston Rockets to Play NBA Champions on Opening Night

The Rockets’ admittance to Opening Night makes sense, as plenty of experts league-wide expect them to be one of the top contenders next season. This offseason, they’ve built themselves into one, re-signing contributors to new deals, searching for new adds on free agency, and of course, adding superstar Kevin Durant on the trade market.

In doing so, the team has created a one-two-three punch of Durant, All-Star Alperen Sengun and rising wing Amen Thompson, as well as solidified one of the deepest and most talented rosters in the league with Fred VanVleet, Jabari Smith Jr., Tari Eason and plenty more.

Their Game 1 opponent however, won’t be easy.

The Oklahoma City Thunder are fresh off a championship, having seen expert-level roster engineering themselves in the last half decade. Led by General Manager Sam Presti, the team has been able to create a two-way force, led on offense by MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and defense by numerous weapons.

This past season, OKC amassed 68 regular season wins, parlaying that into postseason success in beating Memphis, Denver, Minnesota and finally Indiana to claim their first championship since relocation. Houston facing off against Oklahoma City on opening night certainly points to the fact that they should join the champs as a contender this season.

There's plenty of storylines between the teams, too. Prior to their respective rebuilds, there was plenty of back-and-forth in the Western Conference, with the Rockets ripping away MVP James Harden, and eventually signing Russell Westbrook too. Now, the team has Durant, rounding out the former MVP trio that all started their careers in OKC.

There's still relatively little love between Durant and the Thunder. He saw a less-than-graceful exit from the city, eventually joining the infamous 72-win Warriors and going onto win two championships in Golden State. Now, the lengthy sharpshooter has joined what is potentially OKC's top rival in the West in hopes of one final run as winning the title.

The games will be aired on NBC. 

The Rockets announced their preseason schedule days ago, and will face off against the Atlanta Hawks at 7 p.m., Monday, Oct. 6.