The Houston Rockets are just a few weeks away from kicking off their 2025-26 NBA season with a game against the reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder. It's been a busy summer for the Rockets, headlined of course by the addition of Kevin Durant.
One of the more under the radar moves that the Rockets made this offseason was signing free agent wing Dorian Finney-Smith, who opted to depart from the Los Angeles Lakers.
Recently, Smith spoke on the ankle surgery he had this summer to address a lingering issue at Rockets media day, and now, the team has revealed more information about how that procedure might affect his status heading into the season.
“On Wednesday, Rockets coach Ime Udoka said that Finney-Smith is cleared for limited on-court activities but will ‘probably not' be ready for the Oct. 21 season opener,” reported Danielle Lerner of the Houston Chronicle.
Lerner also noted that “in the short term, Finney-Smith's injury does open up more playing time for (Jabari) Smith, who was set to compete with Finney-Smith during training camp for a starting spot. It also clears a path to increased minutes for Eason, and further down in the rotation for Jeff Green and Jae'Sean Tate.”
Mounting injuries for the Rockets
The Finney-Smith news comes just a week after the Rockets learned that point guard Fred VanVleet would be out indefinitely with a torn ACL injury. Overall, the Rockets have a good bit of depth on their roster, which should allow them to compensate for injuries better than most teams would be able to, but in order to truly compete in the Western Conference, they'll likely need to be close to 100%.
With VanVleet out, the Rockets figure to lean more heavily than anticipated on rising second year guard Reed Sheppard, who didn't play a lot in his rookie season in Ime Udoka's defense-first system.
In any case, the Rockets will hit the floor to take on the Thunder on October 21 after Oklahoma City receives its rings for the 2025 championship.
