After missing the entire 2025-26 season with a torn ACL, Fred VanVleet returns to a Houston Rockets team looking to stabilize its offense and reduce a league-bottom turnover rate.
The silence surrounding Fred VanVleet’s empty locker last season was the loudest indicator of what the Houston Rockets were missing. Just days before training camp opened for the 2025-26 campaign. a torn ACL sidelined the veteran point guard. effectively robbing him of a year alongside Kevin Durant. In his absence. Amen Thompson and Reed Sheppard stepped into the spotlight. gaining high-stakes minutes that served as a steep learning curve for the young duo.
While Houston maintained the league’s 7th-best offensive rating, the numbers beneath the surface told a more volatile story. The team struggled with halfcourt efficiency, ranking 19th in points per play and 17th in effective field goal percentage. Most glaringly, the Rockets finished 28th in turnover percentage. Without their floor general. the team hovered near the bottom of the league in ball security; with him on the floor. however. they would have vaulted to the third-best mark in the NBA.
VanVleet’s impact is built on a simple, consistent reality: he protects the ball. In the 2024-25 season. he reduced the Rockets’ turnover rate by 2.5 percentage points. a mark that placed him in the 97th percentile of all players. The team performed 3.2 points per 100 possessions better with him on the court than without him—a trend that has followed the guard for eight of his nine professional seasons. During that same 2024-25 campaign. VanVleet led the Rockets and ranked 32nd league-wide in DARKO. a predictive metric blending box score and tracking data.
Questions remain regarding the 33-year-old’s form following such a significant injury. His 2024-25 season saw a dip in efficiency. with his effective field goal percentage sliding to 48.4%—his lowest since his rookie year—and his 3-point shooting dropping to 34.5%. down from 38.7% the prior year. Much of that decline was tied to an over-reliance on pull-up threes. an area where his role is expected to shift as he reintegrates into a roster now anchored by Durant and more experienced young teammates.
Coach Ime Udoka has already made his expectations clear, planning for VanVleet to start once healthy. Whether he can immediately reclaim his status as an elite perimeter defender and offensive engine remains the central narrative for the first 20 games of the 2026-27 season. VanVleet himself admits there is no shortcut to finding his rhythm after a year away from the game. The coming weeks will determine if he can steady a team that has spent a year learning to operate in his shadow. and whether his return can bridge the gap between their raw talent and championship-level consistency.
Fred VanVleet Houston Rockets NBA Ime Udoka Kevin Durant NBA 2026-27 season basketball