Ranking Houston Rockets free agents based on their likelihood to return next season

There’s still some appeal in keeping the band together. Who wants to break up?

The Houston Rockets will likely stick together in 2024-25. This team is unlikely to make substantial progress this summer. It is more likely that the centerpieces of this team will be back on the floor of the Toyota Center next season.

That said, the Rockets probably won’t keep everyone. They may look to improve parts of their rotation. More broadly, the Rockets have a handful of veterans set to enter free agency this summer.

Here, we rank them in order of likelihood of returning to the team in 2024-25.

Why would Bullock be back?

Bullock only averaged 9.5 minutes per game in 2024-25. We will not extrapolate his figures to a base of 75 – that would be misleading. Bullock did not spend enough time on the floor to glean meaningful data from his season.

Can Bullock still go? Who knows? Note that he has completed 40.3% of his triples this season. Didn’t the Rockets badly need shooting in 2023-24?

Hey, don’t look at us. We would have inserted Bullock into the rotation ahead of Jae’Sean Tate regardless of what that defensive breakdown might look like. Ime Udoka hasn’t trusted Bullock this season.

We expect this to lead to a mutual divorce. Bullock may not see an increased role on another NBA team at his advanced age. Still, he might want to try his luck with another team, and the Rockets might be looking for a rotation player that they – you know – will insert into their rotation.