Rockets' Fred VanVleet may miss season due to injury

According to Kelly Iko of Yahoo Sports (X link), VanVleet suffered a right knee injury at an unofficial team minicamp in the Bahamas. The one-time All-Star and 2019 NBA champion will undergo surgery this week, Iko adds.

It’s a devastating blow for both Houston and VanVleet, who re-signed with the Rockets this summer on a two-year, $50M contract.

VanVleet will earn $25M each of the next two seasons, with a player option for 2026-27. He seems likely to exercise now that he appears destined to miss the entire 2025-26 campaign with a major knee injury.

What Fred VanVleet's absence means for the Rockets 

VanVleet, 31, has been one of the keys to Houston’s dramatic turnaround. The Rockets went 17-55, 20-62 and 22-60 in the three years before he signed with the team as a free agent in 2023. With VanVleet as the starting point guard, Houston had a 41-41 record in ’23/24, followed by a 52-30 mark last season.

While VanVleet took a minor statistical step back last season in several categories, averaging 14.1 points, 5.6 assists, 3.7 rebounds and 1.6 steals while shooting 34.5% on three-pointers in 60 regular-season games, the Rockets were consistently better when he was on the court (+6.2) than when he was off it (+2.9).

VanVleet also had a strong playoff showing in Houston’s first-round loss to Golden State, averaging 18.7 PPG, 4.4 APG, 4.1 RPG and 1.1 SPG while shooting 43.5% from long distance in the seven-game series. When he was on the court in the playoffs, the Rockets had a +3.9 net rating in 280 minutes; in the 56 minutes he didn’t play, their net rating was an abysmal -17.1.

As ESPN’s Bobby Marks notes (via X), the Rockets will likely apply for a disabled player exception in the wake of VanVleet’s injury. However, they’re hard-capped at the first apron and currently only $1.25M below that threshold, which means they wouldn’t be able to use the DPE right now to add a 15th player to their standard roster even if it was granted.

Reed Sheppard, Amen Thompson and Aaron Holiday are among the candidates to receive more minutes and ball-handling duties for Houston in the wake of VanVleet’s unfortunate injury.