Rockets Dubbed Preseason Winner After 4-0 Stretch

The NBA preseason is now over, and the league is getting ready for what should be an exciting 2025-26 regular season with many changes. While the Oklahoma City Thunder are the reigning champions and still looking like the best team in the league, there are plenty of teams catching up to them in pursuit of a title.

One of those teams is the Houston Rockets, who went a perfect 4-0 in the preseason. A young, up-and-coming squad last season has revamped its rotation to add more offense and experience, and the four games leading up to opening night have shown us that is nothing short of the truth.

The Rockets have won all four games by an average of 10.5 points, scoring a total of 131.3 per game. With Kevin Durant at the helm, Houston is a bucket-getting machine.

The Rockets have been dubbed a winner of the preseason, according to Bleacher Report's Andy Bailey. Written before Houston's 133-118 win over the Atlanta Hawks in the final preseason game, the offense was the biggest strength for the Rockets in every matchup.

"The wing rotation is seemingly scoring at will. Jabari Smith Jr., Kevin Durant and Amen Thompson are all over 17 points per game and under 26 minutes per game," Bailey wrote. "In just 24.1 minutes, Alperen Şengün is averaging 8.3 assists. Reed Sheppard has played real minutes in all three games and is shooting 42.9 percent from deep.

"A few weeks ago, news of Fred VanVleet's torn ACL put a little damper on an otherwise stellar offseason that saw this team plug KD into Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks' rotation minutes."

"But during these preseason contests, the VanVleet-less Rockets have looked well-balanced, loaded with talent and ready to contend for a title without their starting point guard."

After the final game, Durant, Sengun, Smith and Thompson's stats didn't change, as they didn't play against Atlanta. However, Sheppard's 29-point, six-rebound, six-assist, four-steal, three-block performance boosted his numbers.

In the preseason, Sheppard averaged 15.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.5 blocks while shooting 51.2% from the field and 40.7% from three.

The second-year guard has looked like he could be the player to step up in the absence of Fred VanVleet, who will be out for the season with a torn ACL. He and Thompson are expected to take on most of those playmaking duties, but the question is whether or not they can do make up for his experience, skill and leadership.