Who Else Is Entering Their Championship Window With The Rockets?

When the Houston Rockets take the court next fall, they'll be going into a season with the highest expectations they've seen in over five seasons. Houston spent several seasons among the league's worst teams, hoping to reach the heights they believe they'll approach next season. Now that they've finally become a contending team, several other teams have also spent time building their squads to a highly competitive level. The Rockets will have to compete against the league's best to have a chance at a championship, and there are some main competitors that could get in their way.

The defending champions are still the standard in the NBA, as the Oklahoma City Thunder won the 2024-25 championship with a masterclass of team building and asset management.

The Thunder's tanking years began after they moved on from Russell Westbrook and Paul George, followed by a quick trade for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and subsequent team building through the draft. Things finally culminated for the Thunder the year before their championship run, earning the top seed in the Western Conference. Their postseason run that year was disturbed by a strong run by the Dallas Mavericks, but the Thunder were prepared to return the following season and finish the job.

The Mavericks are still formidable for next season as No. 1 overall draft pick Cooper Flagg will learn from Anthony Davis and eventually benefit from the return of Kyrie Irving.

The Mavericks aren't the only team in Houston's division that could make some noise next year: the San Antonio Spurs are in a prime position to take advantage of Victor Wembanyama's generational talent on a discounted contract. Both teams could be difficult matchups for the Rockets as they might each become one of the West's top teams.

The Denver Nuggets are still expected to be one of the league's best teams under the leadership of Nikola Jokic.

In the Eastern Conference, the Cleveland Cavaliers should still be a quality team capable of making noise on their side of the bracket. The New York Knicks have also stockpiled talent onto their team, and they'll move into next season with an accomplished coach in Mike Brown to help guide them.

Several other teams could reach the top levels of contention depending on health and development in some players, but the Rockets will likely look eye-to-eye with those top teams after a hot start to an impactful offseason.