Tens of millions of point guards are reimbursed! Seven teams have a big deal! What should they do?

In the 2025 offseason, the Rockets made a bold move:

exchanged for Durant through the largest seven-team trade in NBA history; and shortly after that, main defender Van Vleet suffered a serious injury in training, which is highly likely to be reimbursed for the season. The two major variables,

, have changed the strategic direction of the Rockets in the new season in one fell swoop.

First of all, Durant is the key reinforcement. Although the Rockets have not given much youthful combat power, they have given out a lot of chips:

Jaylen Green, Dillon Brooks, the 10th pick, and five second-round picks.

In addition, in order to control the salary space and quotas, the team terminated the contracts of multiple players to avoid touching the salary red line. The signal behind this deal is obvious. The Rockets no longer focus on their potential layout, but have started to bet.

Durant's arrival is the most direct statement of the team's reshaping its combat power, but judging from the recent seasons, his fortune is really bad.

VanVleet tore the right ACL during offseason training. According to multiple reports, he is highly likely to miss the entire new season. Previously, he signed a two-year 50 million contract with the Rockets, including player options for the 2026-27 season. As the team's backcourt stabilizer, Van Jordan is the core role in organizing ball control, and his long-term absence also means that the Rockets' backcourt must be adjusted in the new season.

According to the moment, the Rockets are not expected to re-bet a young player to replace Van Jordan, but they are more likely to share the tasks of controlling the ball and developing offense through multiple players. But fortunately, the Rockets have plenty of candidates in this position.

Shepard was mainly a shooter in college. He had excellent shooting talent, fast shooting pace and high shooting points. Although he was ordinary in size, thanks to his excellent feel and range, the Rockets finally won him with a high pick in 2024. But unfortunately, Shepard did not get much performance opportunities in the rookie year. Most of the time he was at the end of the rotation, averaging only 12.6 minutes of playing time, and his personal data was mediocre.

When Van Jordan was injured in the new season, Shepard's role naturally has a chance to magnify. In the Durant trade case, the team cleared Green's position to him, so he naturally needed to show his shooting in the new season to fill the outside firepower. Based on the player attributes, Shepard's value is not necessarily the passing organization, but more importantly, the shooting moves after the off-ball run and pick-and-roll, relying on shooting to open up the offensive space for the team.

If we can regain the projective confidence in college, Shepard has the opportunity to become an important part of the Rockets' offensive system in the new season and share part of the original Van Jordan's work. In addition to Shepard, Amen Thompson was able to participate.

This 23-year rookie has shown all-round skills last season. Relying on top athletic ability, it is the strongest defense on the Rockets on the outside. Last season, it averaged 14.1 points, 8.2 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game. After Van Jordan was injured, he was naturally regarded as the first candidate for starting ball possession, and his assist data in the new season is also expected to increase significantly.

Compared with Shepard, Amen's biggest advantage lies in his explosive power and offensive destructive power, but his current weakness is also obvious, lacking projection threat, and his long-range shooting rate is poor, which is precisely Shepard's potential to be favored.

Judging from last season, Amen has deliberately reduced his shooting, but this is precisely because the defender will also place his shots targetedly and prevent him from attacking the basket easily. This also led to his ability to break through the first line of defense, but he was often trapped in the penalty area. Unless he can quickly grow into an excellent passer and find the perimeter support point while he is moving, this will still be a big problem in the new season.

It is predictable that if Amen takes over the point guard in the new season, it will be a double-edged sword. He can bring fast-paced offense to the Rockets, but his projection shortcomings are likely to become targeting points during the playoff tug-of-war.

In addition to Shepard and Amen, Durant, who is getting older, may also have the opportunity to share part of the responsibility for holding the ball.

Although he is approaching the second half of his career, Adu is still the top ball-holder scorer. If the Rockets want to maximize their offense, Uduka will definitely need to increase Art's ball-holder scenes, but the key lies in how much ball-holder this scorer is willing and able to shoulder at the end of his career. A very obvious trend is that Durant's breakthrough frequency and free throw data in recent years have both decreased significantly, and he relies more on mid-range jump shots to solve the offense.

It is undeniable that Adu still has difficulty limiting it, but if he is the ball holder for a long time, this may not be the best way to use it. The best choice is to let Durant participate in a lot of ball control during the final stage of the game to avoid over-consuming. At the same time, Durant can participate more in mid-range singles or low-post offenses. On the one hand, it can alleviate the pressure of holding the ball in the backcourt, and on the other hand, it can maximize his shooting ability to ignore defense, as the final answer to the team's offense.

Then there is 23-year-old star center Shin Kyung. The organization center performed star last season and shined in the European Cup this summer. Before Van Jordan was injured, Shin Kyung was already the best pass vision in the team.

Referring to the success mode of last season, Uduka is likely to go with the flow, referring to the team roles of Sa and Jokic, boldly activate Shen Jing's high-level support, allowing him to hold the ball in the elbow area, and his teammates run around and use his passes to create offensive opportunities.

It is particularly worth mentioning that Durant's joining is the key to amplifying the power of Shen Jing's support. More high-quality shooters mean that the opponents dare not help defend, and Shen Jing's attacks will also be reduced in low-level singles. Even if he is double-teamed, his passes have a better chance of converting them into direct scores.

Specially considering that the Rockets' open three-point shooting percentage was only 30% last season, this data has a chance to improve significantly in the new season..

Corresponding to this, Shen Jing, as the core, needs to improve the offensive decision-making speed in the new season. Last season, he occasionally hesitated to keep the ball while attacking, resulting in fleeting offensive opportunities. Of course, this may be due to his lack of confidence in passing last season's teammates' outside inaccurate lineup. From these two points, Shen Jing's choice to play the role of supporting the center is likely to be the focus of Uduka's tactical adjustment in the new season. In addition to the offense, the Rockets' defensive changes in the new season are also worth paying attention to.

In exchange for Durant, the Rockets sent away two starters, which makes people worry. Without the big lock on the outside and Green's athletic talent in the backcourt, will the Rockets' proud defense decline?

The team ranked fifth in the league in defensive efficiency last season, while Shen Jing's defense was obvious. The team's defense mainly revolved around Dillon and Van Jordan, a group of good players on the outside. But at present, Dillon and Green left the team and Van Jordan was reimbursed. How should the Rockets' defensive culture be rebuilt? This is another problem in the new season. In addition to the losses, the Rockets in the offseason have also strengthened their defense. Amen's rise at least prevents Dillon's departure from the deadly vacancy. Last season, he has grown into the best outside defense in the team, and even overshadowed Dillon's defensive light for a while. As a young force with a tall and long arms and quick steps, it is the absolute core of the Rockets' future defensive system.

Although Dillon is good at single defense on the outside, he is shorter in size and has limited coordination ability; in contrast, Amen provides more diverse defensive coverage, and his age at 22 years old also has higher physical and defensive ceilings. To a certain extent, this may be one of the reasons why the Rockets dared to let Dillon go. In addition to the original team, the Rockets also found Finney Smith in the free market. As a recognized defensive player in the league, he is a reliable forward pitcher. In addition, Okoji's joining further strengthened the depth of the wing defense. The two can also fill Dillon's vacancy on the defensive end.

Summary, the Rockets in the new season are a high-risk and high-reward team. After tactical transformation, we gradually moved from hoarding talents to fulfill our achievements.

If Durant stays healthy and young backcourts can grow rapidly, the Rockets are completely likely to become the biggest dark horse of the season. On the contrary, if any link is out of control, it may put this promising young force into turmoil.