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With the Houston Rockets connected to many stars such as Kevin Durant and Giannis Antetokounmpo, the question has also been the future of Jalen Green. After the Rockets' star had a frustrating playoffs, as he acknowledged, there's been a ton of speculation about his departure, but maybe some should hold the phone on that notion.
After a season where Green led Houston with 21 points per game on 42.3 percent shooting from the field and 35.4 percent from beyond the arc, it was the playoff series against the Golden State Warriors that showed some flaws. Besides scoring 38 points in Game 2, he scored in single digits four times, including eight in Game 7.
Still, Kelly Iko and Sam Amick of The Athletic would report that the feeling of the Rockets is different on Green compared to hw the public perceives it. While some blame Green for his down outings, the feeling is that his teammates should take some blame for how the 23-year-old was eliminated from the series for the most part.
“As it relates to Green, whose struggles against the Warriors were widely seen as a red flag when it came to his Rockets future, the internal view is quite different,” The Athletic wrote. “As the Rockets see it, the Warriors’ choice to eliminate Green on the offensive end with double-teams and blitzes should have been punished to a far greater degree by his teammates. In that sense, there was a shared fault there that they’ll all grow from going forward.”
Are the Rockets better with Jalen Green off the floor?
A question that would be answered by Rockets general manager Rafael Stone about Green would be how statistically, the team is better with him off the floor. According to Jackson Gatlin, Stone would even say that it's a “flawed question.”
“That's a really flawed question. There's great data that we have and we use. I can make data say whatever I want it to say. We heavily use it, but we're careful,” said Stone.
Asked Rafael Stone about lineup data that suggests the Rockets have been better without Jalen Green this season:
“That's a really flawed question. There's great data that we have and we use. I can make data say whatever I want it to say. We heavily use it, but we're careful.” pic.twitter.com/r6eRPBAc14
— Jackson Gatlin (@JTGatlin) May 6, 2025
There's no doubt that Green himself has been hard on himself for his performances, as he had an NSFW response when talking about his series against the Warriors.
“Besides the (second) home game, s**t,” Green said via a video by @BigSargeSportz on X, formerly Twitter, reposted by NBA Central. “Straight s**t. I got to be better. First playoffs is no excuse. Yeah, I’ve got to be better.”
Jalen Green says he played like ‘sh*t’ in the playoffs
“Besides that one game, sh*t, straight sh*t, I got to be better,”
(🎥 @BigSargeSportz )
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) May 5, 2025
It remains to be seen what the No. 2 seed in the West does in the offseason, but there's no doubt that the Rockets have high aspirations.
