Opinion: Rockets to miss Fred VanVleet with a torn ACL

Fred VanVleet (YouTube)

The Houston Rockets lost a significant piece to their puzzle for the 2025-26 National Basketball Association season. According to Rogers Sportsnet on Monday, Rockets point guard Fred VanVleet of Rockford, Illinois recently tore his anterior cruciate ligament and is not expected to play the entire year.

Initially it was not reported where or when the injury happened. According to Yahoo! Sports, the injury happened during a Rockets minicamp in the Bahamas.

It will now be interesting to see what the Rockets do at the point guard position. Amen Thompson of Oakland, California is second on the Rockets depth chart at point guard, but he is also first on the depth chart at small forward.

All of a sudden without VanVleet, the Rockets starting lineup looks very thin. That is what happens when a key component on your roster is gone for the year, and management team decides to trade two players from the starting five a year ago (shooting guard Jalen Green and small forward Dillon Brooks) for one player (power forward Kevin Durant) who is past his prime at 36 years of age.

VanVleet’s projected impact on the Rockets this season was going to be significant. It is not easy to replace a point guard. Remember, Durant has had his fair share of injuries too, and missed the entire 2019-20 season due to an Achilles injury.

This past season, VanVleet averaged 14.1 points per game, 5.6 assists per game, 3.7 rebounds per game, and 1.6 steals per game. He also had a field goal percentage of .378, three point percentage of .345, and a free throw percentage of .810. Expectations were high for the Rockets to start the season, now they will be hard pressed to make the playoffs.