2025–26 Houston Rockets season

The 2025–26 Houston Rockets season will be the 59th season of the franchise in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and 55th season in the city of Houston.^[1] On June 22, 2025, the Rockets announced a trade involving the Phoenix Suns' Kevin Durant that would be made official on July 6, with Houston acquiring the Hall of Fame-caliber forward in exchange for shooting guard Jalen Green and guard/forward Dillon Brooks, as well as the first-round pick in the 2025 NBA draft that came from the Brooklyn Nets by the Suns' first trade involving Kevin Durant (which later became South Sudanese freshman center Khaman Maluach from Duke University) and five second-round picks (including the second round pick Houston acquired from the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder in the 2025 draft) as well.^[2][3]

The Rockets originally entered this draft period (which lasted for two days, similar to the previous year's draft) holding one first-round pick and one second-round pick.^[4][5] The first-round pick they held would come from the Phoenix Suns when they first traded for star forward Kevin Durant, with the Rockets acquiring that pick alongside two other first-round picks from the Suns that they got from the Brooklyn Nets involving other draft picks being traded back to Brooklyn. The second-round pick they held that would end up concluding the 2025 draft (due to the New York Knicks forfeiting their own second-round pick due to free agency violations relating to them Jalen Brunson from the Dallas Mavericks) would come from the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder by a three-way trade with the Atlanta Hawks, with Houston acquiring the last pick of the draft and Oklahoma City's second-round pick from the previous year's draft by trading with Atlanta through the two teams swapping around two different players with each other. This draft also marked the first time since the 2021 NBA draft that the NBA draft won't be 58 picks long due to multiple teams violating free agency rules in the offseason (though it wouldn't be the first time since then that the full number of NBA teams would get their draft picks for the season). However, a trade announced on June 22 had the Rockets agree to trade not just both their first-round and second-round picks they had in this draft, but also shooting guard Jalen Green, guard/forward Dillon Brooks, and four other second-round picks to the Phoenix Suns for superstar forward Kevin Durant, which would leave the Rockets with no draft picks at all following the conclusion of the draft period, barring any other trades the Rockets might do during that period of time.^[2][3] The other draft picks that originally belonged to Houston would be traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves and Brooklyn Nets in the first-round and the Los Angeles Clippers and Memphis Grizzlies in the second-round, respectively.

On the first night of the draft, the Rockets selected South Sudanese freshman center Khaman Maluach from Duke University as their #10 pick that would agreed to be sent out to the Phoenix Suns by early July as a part of the Rockets' trade that would have them acquiring Kevin Durant. Maluach would be named a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference's All-Freshman Team in 2025 for his work as a teammate for a Duke team that would reach the final four of the 2025 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, with the South Sudanese center also previously playing professionally for multiple African teams in the Basketball Africa League as well. The second round selection that the Rockets would make (which was initially going to be sent out to Phoenix in relation to the prior Kevin Durant deal before Phoenix traded that selection's draft rights alongside the 52nd pick that they held to the Golden State Warriors for the 41st pick of the draft) was the final selection made to conclude the second night of the draft, which was completed on June 26. That selection in question ended up becoming Jahmai Mashack, a shooting guard from the University of Tennessee. With the Rockets deciding not to make any trades to gain new draft picks this year, they would join the Denver Nuggets as the only other NBA team to not have any selections to their names by the end of the draft period since they would both be traded by July to different teams in relation to the Kevin Durant trade Houston made earlier on before the draft began.