Rockets Land High Offseason Grade from Bleacher Report

The 2025 offseason was the biggest one thus far for Houston Rockets General Manager Rafael Stone. Sure, he's had pivotal summers but the stakes were much higher this time around.

A roster teardown, like in 2020, is just a matter of fetching the best deals and/or situations for each player.

It's much harder to build a contender. 

It's even harder to add the missing piece. Superstars are hard to nab, without ponying up an albatross of an offer.

The Rockets surprised everyone in 2024-25, finishing second in the Western Conference and fourth-best in the NBA. In spite of that, Rockets coach Ime Udoka wouldn't dub a first-round postseason exit as a successful season. 

The team needed to get better.

Kevin Durant, who the Rockets previously targeted, was finally available, after the Phoenix Suns imploded and missed the play-in tournament altogether. 

The Rockets were able to acquire him for the small price of Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, and the 10th pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, which originally belonged to Phoenix.

After that, the Rockets added wing depth and picked up an additional big, by way of Dorian Finney-Smith, Josh Okogie, and Clint Capela.

It remains to be seen how those players will be used and how big of a role they'll have. But it's clear that the Rockets had a very good offseason.

Bleacher Report's Zach Buckley seemed to agree, giving the Rockets an offseason grade of an A+.

"Houston entered the offseason with an obvious need for a top-shelf scorer and shot-creator who could unlock their half-court offense and deliver on gotta-have-it possessions. They'll exit it with one of history's most unstoppable offensive forces in Kevin Durant, who might be aging in years (37 in October) but not in ability.

He just put up 26.6 points per night and was a couple of hot streaks at the charity stripe away from another 50/40/90 effort (actual line was 52.7/43/83.9). He did this all amid the dysfunction that was the 2024-25 Phoenix Suns and now arrives in Houston not only as a possible offensive savior, but also another lanky, disruptive defender who will fit the team's mold on that end.

The Rockets didn't even have to sacrifice prime assets to get Durant, and the wins kept coming from there. Fred VanVleet inked a team-friendly pact (two years, $50 million) and left enough flexibility for Houston to add Dorian Finney-Smith and Clint Capela and to extend Jabari Smith Jr. and Steven Adams. The Rockets' championship chase starts right now."

The Rockets' roster is set, meaning their offseason is complete (minus Kevin Durant's contract extension).

Soon enough, we'll be able to see just how effective their offseason was.