The Western Conference is going to be stacked this season, but the list of top-tier contenders is a short one that includes the Thunder, Nuggets, and Rockets. One of those teams was dealt a major and unexpected blow on Monday as Houston point guard Fred VanVleet suffered a torn ACL that will potentially sideline him for the entire season.
We’ve been raving all summer about the great offseason the Nuggets had and how they are ready to make a major leap. That was true of the Rockets as well, who pulled off the biggest heist of the offseason, adding Kevin Durant to their loaded young core.
But unfortunately for Houston, a big part of their team was centered around FVV and his ability to run the offense and hit shots, while playing solid defense and providing veteran leadership and intangibles. Now, VanVleet is likely lost for the year after suffering a truly devastating injury during a minicamp in the Bahamas.
The Rockets have a deep squad, but point guard was their thinnest position as they’ll now have to rely heavily on youngsters Amen Thompson and Reed Sheppard. That’s less than ideal for a team with championship aspirations that was banking on the championship experience of FVV.
Rockets unable to add depth without trading
It’s hard to really fault Houston as this was impossible to see coming, but they’re now in a truly unfortunate position. Just $1.2 million under the first apron hard cap, they can’t add any free agent, even on a minimum contract, without shedding some salary first.
So even if the Rockets wanted to add a veteran point guard like Russell Westbrook or Ben Simmons, they’d have to trade away some contracts to make it happen. It’s an extremely tough spot for the team to be in, and they are going to have to find ways to pivot on the fly. They didn’t bring KD to town to not vie for the title, but without a true starting point guard, that mission just got a hell of a lot harder.
They will lean on their elite defense and hope that they have enough playmaking from Durant, Thompson, Alperen Sengun, and others. The talent is there, but they are now going to have to take a very unconventional approach on the offensive end and adjust to their new reality on the fly.
This news is still so new that it’s hard to fully process, but it’s clearly a huge blow to one of the Nuggets’ biggest competitors in the Western Conference.