With Fred VanVleet Injured, Rockets Are Doomed With Their Offseason Priorities

The Houston Rockets are now facing a peculiar situation without the commanding presence of Fred VanVleet.

From generating high hopes and expectations following a major 2024-25 outing and offseason retooling that saw the blockbuster acquisition of Kevin Durant, the Rockets suddenly find themselves deeply wondering about their fate heading to the upcoming season as VanVleet will be sidelined for an indefinite basis.

With less than a week left before the media day and the opening of the training camp, it was announced that the franchise guard sustained a torn ACL. This is an unforeseen brutal blow that instantly alters the odds for the Rockets to compete in the 2025-26 season, as VanVleet has been the team's established floor general and leader.

John Hollinger Questions Houston's Offseason Frontcourt Focus out of Fred VanVleet Injury, Thin Guard Depth

As it is likely for VanVleet to sit down until late 2026, the Rockets have no choice left but to rely on the rest of their backcourt pieces. And this looks troubling already as Reed Sheppard has been inexperienced, Amen Thompson will already juggle multiple responsibilities on both ends, while Aaron Holiday isn't convincing enough to be the primary ball handler for this title-seeking Rockets team.

With just a thin backcourt rotation, the Rockets are significantly doomed out of VanVleet's sudden full-season absence. The Rockets have minimal flexibility left to make moves out of their hard-capped status in the first apron.

For this, John Hollinger of The Athletic believes that the Rockets’ decision to prioritize its frontcourt look this past summer ultimately ended up as a mistake that left the team with no considerable option in addressing the VanVleet injury.

“In particular, for a team with two All-Star frontcourt players already in Durant and Alperen Şengün, the decisions to give multiyear deals to Steven Adams and Dorian Finney-Smith and Clint Capela and Jabari Smith Jr. now seem like total overkill, especially because even the “smalls” they signed (Jae’Sean Tate and Josh Okogie) do their best work masquerading as power forwards,” the NBA columnist wrote. “Having six rotation-caliber power forwards plus Jeff Green in reserve is a nice luxury, but not when you only have 14 total players and three of the other ones are full-time centers.”

It's fair to say that Rafael Stone indeed placed too much emphasis on the Rockets' wing and big man chart. Even before VanVleet's ACL tear, there were significant questions and doubts throughout this offseason about why he never considered bringing another key guard. 

Giving Sheppard his chance after an inactive rookie campaign is understandable, but dreadful situations like this only shows why adding another reliable ball handler is crucial. Several serviceable role playing guards like Malcolm Brogdon and Tyus Jones would have been ideal for Houston to add instead of overcommitting with multiple big bodies.

But it is what it is. The Rockets can only hope that the trio of Sheppard, Thompson, and Holiday will be able to step up and fill VanVleet's shoes, or Stone would be able to execute a miracle transaction for a guard help at some point.