Rockets surge from No. 26 in NBA to No. 7 in ESPN’s future power rankings
After a breakthrough season in 2023-24, the Rockets have surged up the rankings in ESPN’s annual projection for the next three NBA seasons.
In 2023-24, the 19-win improvement by the Rockets (41-41) was the biggest annual jump by any of the NBA’s 30 teams. With a talented young core consisting of seven first-round picks from the last four NBA draft cycles, Houston is clearly a franchise on the rise.
But, to what extent will that upward trajectory continue? On Wednesday, ESPN published its future power rankings for each NBA team over the next three seasons: 2024-25, 2025-26, and 2026-27.
The criteria are as follows:
To determine the rankings, we asked ESPN analysts Kevin Pelton, Bobby Marks, and Tim Bontemps to rate teams in five categories and rank them relative to the rest of the league.
We determined that the most important category is the team’s current roster and the future poitential of those players. At the same time, we looked at many other factors such as management, ownership, coaching, a team’s spending habits, its salary cap situation, the reputation of the city and the franchise, and what kind of draft picks we expect the team to have in the future.
After being ranked 26th in a similar exercise conducted in October 2023, the Rockets have since surged to No. 7 overall. Out of 30 teams, their average ranking was No. 17 in players; No. 8 in management; No. 2 in money; No. 5 in draft; and No. 10 in market.
The only teams listed ahead of Houston, in order from first to sixth, are the Oklahoma City Thunder, Boston Celtics, New York Knicks, Philadelphia 76ers, Dallas Mavericks, and Denver Nuggets.
Ultimately, this was Houston’s first top-10 placement in ESPN’s future power rankings since 2019. The complete list can be read at ESPN.
More: ESPN ranks Rockets fifth in NBA for future first-round draft assets
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