Despite an early exit from the 2026 NBA playoffs, the Houston Rockets didn’t make any blockbuster transactions (at least not yet) in the ensuing offseason.
One reason is health. The Rockets were without Fred VanVleet, Steven Adams, and Kevin Durant (mostly) during that first-round series loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. All are expected to be healthy for the start of the 2026-27 season in October, and that should make for a better team.
Externally, Houston signed veteran guard Marcus Smart as a potentially important depth piece to fortify its rotation. Rookie guard Bruce Thornton also turned heads with an impressive summer league showing.
Even so, with Durant turning 38 years old in September, the expectation from some observers around the league was for the Rockets to make a splashy offseason move to bolster whatever is left of his All-NBA prime.
But owner Tilman Fertitta seems to have signed off on a more patient approach, and one that involves continued development and improvement from Houston’s young core of prospects.
The recent investment in assistant coach Chip Engelland, one of the NBA’s best shooting coaches of this generation, could further help that cause. So, too, could a significant stockpile of future draft assets.
Speaking on the Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective podcast, ESPN’s Tim MacMahon — a Texas-based journalist who has covered the Rockets closely for years — elaborated on Fertitta’s mindset.
Among his comments:
As far as the Rockets go, Tilman is obviously still the final word, but he’s not involved. The concern from people when Tilman bought the Rockets — including, by the way, from some people that worked for the Rockets at the time — was that he was going to be meddling. That he was going to be (Mark) Cuban-esque, or a lot like what we’ve seen in Phoenix with Mat Ishbia.
Tilman learned some tough lessons early on. I mean, boy did he learn when that Chris Paul trade (for Russell Westbrook) blew up in his face. And he’s gotten out of the way.
His son, Patrick, is really in charge of the franchise, but he very much is aligned with Rafael Stone. And by the way, Patrick along with Rafael were the ones who were really responsible for talking Tilman into that brutal, painful, long-term rebuild that Tilman didn’t want any of. He had to be talked into sticking with it, on a frequent basis.
The complete episode can be listened to below.
Today, that means Tilman Fertitta is listening to the counsel of Stone as general manager, Ime Udoka as head coach, and his son, Patrick — officially the team’s alternate governor.
From a trust perspective, it likely helps that Stone and Udoka were hired by Fertitta in 2020 and 2023, respectively, in contrast to some predecessors who were inherited upon Fertitta’s purchase of the team in October 2017.
And with the elder Fertitta now working in Italy for a significant chunk of each year, his son is by far the most visible ownership presence in Houston.
The end result is strong organizational alignment within the Rockets, and at least for now, it seems Tilman Fertitta is content to sign the requisite checks and trust the vision of that leadership trio back in Houston.
Entering 2026-27, the Rockets are coming off consecutive 52-30 seasons before losing in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs. Going forward, the obvious priority is to maintain or build upon that regular-season success while improving those subsequent postseason showings.
This article originally appeared on Rockets Wire: ESPN: After ‘tough lessons,’ Tilman Fertitta isn’t meddling in Houston
Reporting by Ben DuBose, Rockets Wire / Rockets Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Ben DuBose, Rockets Wire | USA TODAY Network
