What went wrong for Rockets? How Houston fell apart, from Kevin Durant’s exposed burner account to first-round loss

What went wrong for Rockets? How Houston fell apart, from Kevin Durant’s exposed burner account to first-round loss originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Houston Rockets won 52 games this season, but it can’t be called a success.

Despite adding Kevin Durant and seemingly positioning themselves to compete for a Western Conference title, the Rockets finished with the same win total as last season and often looked less connected than they did a year earlier. Houston suffered a second consecutive first-round exit, this time at the hands of the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Rockets hoped a promising young core and the veteran Durant, who is still playing at an All-Star level, would be a perfect blend after youth seemingly limited the team’s ceiling last season. Instead, they are right back where they were before.

Here’s a look at what went wrong for the Rockets this season.

MORE:Why Kevin Durant’s burner account was right about Rockets

What went wrong for Rockets?

The Rockets’ outlook changed the second starting point guard Fred VanVleet suffered a torn ACL before the start of the regular season. Faced with virtually no other option, Houston opted to use Amen Thompson as a de facto point guard and force key pieces out of their typical roles.

Boasting what was supposed to be a deep roster, the Rockets were still expected to compete with some of the West’s top teams, with the exception of perhaps the Oklahoma City Thunder.

52 wins wasn’t a worst-case scenario, but it wasn’t an improvement from last season. Alperen Sengun struggled on the defensive end for much of the year, while Jabari Smith Jr. made some small strides offensively but also struggled defensively.

The depth the Rockets believed they had wasn’t always there, either. Steven Adams was limited to just 32 games and missed the final three months of the regular season, while free-agent addition Dorian Finney-Smith struggled so much that he fell out of the rotation. Meanwhile, a lack of shooters left the Rockets 28th in three-point attempts, even though their efficiency wasn’t bad by any means.

A bit too disconnected on the defensive end and a too one-dimensional on the offensive end, the Rockets couldn’t find the kind of groove they had last season, even with Durant in the fold. Houston should have been a team that improved as the season went along and Durant got comfortable with his new teammates, but the Rockets instead struggled down the stretch and were forced to start the playoffs on the road — where they missed Durant for all but one game of their series loss to the Lakers.

MORE:Complete Kevin Durant teams timeline

Rockets timeline of trouble in 2026

Fred VanVleet tears ACL

The Rockets lost veteran point guard Fred VanVleet before the season even began, as VanVleet tore his ACL in a September workout and did not return. VanVleet didn’t have his most efficient season in 2024-25, but he gave the Rockets a floor general who made a habit of shooting 3s and knew how to work with the team’s young players.

Losing VanVleet so late in the offseason meant the Rockets had to convert Amen Thompson into a de facto point guard, which left Houston with one less shooter and forced key players to change their roles.

Steven Adams undergoes season-ending surgery

Houston’s depth took another major hit when Steven Adams underwent season-ending ankle surgery in January, leaving the team without one of its top rebounders and defenders. The former Thunder big man was averaging 8.6 rebounds per game before the injury, even while coming off the bench in nearly two-thirds of his games.

Kevin Durant burner account allegations

An off-court situation rocked the Rockets at the All-Star break when X users unearthed what appeared to be a burner account belonging to Kevin Durant. That account had sent direct messages disparaging Sengun and Smith, criticizing their defense and shooting in vulgar terms. Durant never confirmed nor denied the account was his, declining the opportunity to clear the air publicly, but it made for an awkward situation from the outside-looking-in.

MORE:Explaining Kevin Durant’s burner account allegations

Post All-Star break struggles

In theory, the Rockets should have improved as the season went on as Durant got more comfortable and the team got used to life without VanVleet. Instead, Houston had a 6-8 stretch from late February into late March. The Rockets were able to get back on track over the final stretch of the season, finishing on a 9-1 run, but only three of those wins came against playoff teams.

Kevin Durant’s poorly-timed injuries

One of the biggest bright spots for the Rockets this season was the health of Durant, who dealt with nagging injuries in Brooklyn and Phoenix but missed only four regular season games, his best mark in seven years. Unfortunately for Houston, the injury bug caught up to Durant at the worst time. He beat his regular season total by missing five games in the Rockets’ series against the Lakers due to knee and ankle injuries, accelerating the end of a rocky season.

First-round loss to the Lakers

With Durant playing only one game, the Rockets bowed out against a Lakers team that never had Luka Doncic even step on the floor in their first-round series. L.A. also missed Austin Reaves for the first four games of the series.

Houston struggled mightily on the offensive end with and without Durant over the first three games, and the hole was too deep for the Rockets to climb out of despite the Lakers’ core being so depleted. After fighting back with wins in Games 4 and 5, the Rockets’ offense hit a new low in a dismal Game 6 defeat.

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