As playoffs loom, Fred VanVleet still not ruling out 2025-26 return

The expectation has been, and continues to be, that veteran Rockets guard Fred VanVleet won’t play again until the start of the Houston’s 2026-27 season in October.

VanVleet, 32, tore the ACL in his right knee in late September of 2025, and most ACL recoveries take at least nine months before players return to NBA games. That nine-month window would extend beyond even the 2026 NBA Finals.

But neither VanVleet nor the Rockets has ruled out a 2025-26 return, and even with the mid-April start of the 2026 playoffs just a month away, that seemingly still remains the case.

On the latest episode of his Unguarded podcast, VanVleet spoke with Rockets Wire’s Brian Barefield (@BigSargeSportz on X) about where he is at in his recovery.

Among VanVleet’s comments:

I’m at almost six months (since the injury), now. So, I’m getting there. Getting stronger, getting better. I’m moving around a lot better. I’m getting some good on-court workouts. I think that a lot of the predictions of where I was going to be was made, pre-surgery, and so we’ve had to adjust that timeline as things go on.

But again, selfishly, I’m always going to keep my window open. I’m not going to come on here and tell you, ‘Oh, I’m not coming back. And then I come back like, ‘Oh, surprise.’

But I’m not ruling it out and I’m not saying I’m coming back. I’m just rehabbing. I’m working on myself, and I keep that goal in mind, because I’ve made such good progress. But ultimately, it’s going to come down to how I feel and where I’m at. But I do feel like I’m progressing. I’m on track.

In VanVleet’s absence, 23-year-old Amen Thompson and 21-year-old Reed Sheppard have taken on increased ball-handling and playmaking responsibilities.

But the Rockets would certainly welcome the return of their floor general, which would allow more off-ball opportunities for Thompson and Sheppard. Defensively, VanVleet’s presence could also help stabilize a Houston group that allowed an average of 137 points in two blowout losses earlier this week at San Antonio and Denver.

Even so, it clearly remains less likely than likely that VanVleet returns this season. But apparently the towel isn’t being thrown just yet.

Houston (40-25) enters this weekend at No. 4 in the tightly packed Western Conference standings and in line for home-court advantage in at least one round of the playoffs. Yet, the seventh-seeded Phoenix Suns (39-27) — who, as things stand, would need to go through the West play-in tournament just to qualify for the playoffs — are only 1.5 games back.

With 15 regular-season games left to play, the margins in the West are that thin, and any production from VanVleet — even if in a limited post-injury role — could be significant.

Granted, it could also be a situation where it proves unrealistic for VanVleet to return within the next month (i.e. within seven months since the injury), but it might become realistic if Houston’s playoff run extends until closer to May’s eight-month mark.

But for that timeline to work, it would require Houston advancing in the playoffs. To say the least, those recent results versus the Spurs and Nuggets haven’t inspired confidence.

VanVleet, however, appears undeterred.

“There is such a thing as regular-season teams and playoff teams, and I think all of our dysfunction and isolation (this season), and having to win in a lot of different ways… that could benefit us in a seven-game series,” VanVleet said on the podcast.

“I wouldn’t want to play us in a seven-game series, with or without me,” he added. “I’m still taking us over San Antonio.”

Time will tell as to whether VanVleet is right, as well as whether his knee is in a good enough spot, physically, to help the cause. But the door is being left open.

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