Rockets, Thunder Land Top Offseason Grades

The Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder will forever be intertwined. After all, the Rockets' second-best player in franchise history arrived via trade with the Thunder in James Harden. 

Furthermore, Oklahoma City's best player, Russell Westbrook, was dealt to the Rockets less than a decade later. 

Aside from superstars swapping out Thunder threads for Rockets threads (albeit with other stops in between), both teams recently underwent rebuilds. For the Thunder, the rebuild started one year after Russell Westbrook and Paul George were dealt, while the Rockets' rebuild similarly started when their MVP -- the aforementioned Harden -- forced his way out of town.

New coaches were brought in for both teams as well. In fact, the Rockets ultimately made multiple coaching changes, which is oftentimes par for the course during rebuilds.

Last season, with both rebuilds officially complete, both franchises finished within the top two of the Western Conference, with Houston finishing second, while the Thunder paced the entire league with 68 wins, winning the championship during the process. Oklahoma City managed to nab one of the league's best players by way of trade, as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, last year's MVP, was acquired by way of the Paul George trade in 2019.

This offseason, the Rockets acquired Kevin Durant, another one of the league's best players and an all-time great, who initially starred for the Thunder. 

Both teams drew A+ grades from USA Today Sports' panel for their respective offseasons, drawing another commonality, and were the only teams to draw such a grade.

The Rockets' synopsis is below:

"The Rockets are going all-in, and they made splashy and underrated moves to get there. , but re-signing Steven Adams and a reunion with Clint Capela shores up the frontcourt. Adding Dorian Finney-Smith gives Houston a solid 3-and-D player and the Rockets suddenly have tremendous length and athleticism along the wing."

As for Oklahoma City, they managed to lock up their young core - reaching extensions with Chet Holmgren ($250 million over five years), Gilgeous-Alexander ($285 million over four years), and Jalen Williams (five year rookie max extension worth upto $287 million), and will enter 2025-26 with Nikola Topic and Thomas Sorber, their respective first-round draft selections from the 2024 and 2025 NBA Drafts.

The two teams are expected to finish first and second in the West once again in 2025-26.