Rockets offseason primer: Can they afford everybody?

After three years in the NBA’s basement following the end of the James Harden era, the Houston Rockets decided they had done enough draft lottery plundering in the summer of 2023, and opted to start trying to win more. A .500 record in the following season was not enough for the playoffs, but 52 wins this year meant a return to the postseason for the first time since 2020. And although it ended with a loss to the Golden State Warriors, the young Rockets’ first taste of playoff basketball will serve as an important stepping stone in their planned path back to competitiveness.

The offseason now begins in earnest and is likely to be one of consolidation. The Rockets are on an upward trajectory, like any functioning rocket should be, and they have both the third-youngest roster of any team in this year’s playoffs to go with a far greater stash of draft assets than many of the teams around them. Disappointment at the nature of the first-round loss should not be confused with disappointment in the progress of the team as a whole.

In particular, the young core includes All-Star center Alperen Sengun, upstart guard Jalen Green, and do-it-all sophomore Amen Thompson, out of whom a bit of everything is expected. The first two are tied down due to extensions they signed last offseason that will commence this summer, while Thompson has two years left to run on his rookie scale contract. In that two-year window, then, the Rockets may have a chance to do more than just consolidate, and potentially add one more premium talent before it all starts to get punitively expensive. Before then, though, they have some decisions to make regarding those they already have.

With this in mind, here follows a look at the Houston Rockets’ roster and spending options heading into the 2025 NBA offseason.