Predicting where the Rockets will finish in the Western Conference next season

San Antonio Spurs

Victor Wembanyama. He's nightmare fuel. The Rockets will have to figure out how they're going to deal with an 8-foot-tall demigod for the next decade.

For now, the Spurs are likely to continue struggling. Sure, they added Chris Paul and Harrison Barnes this summer. That should make them a better team. They won 22 games last season, and the Rockets won 41. Those acquisitions will not close a 19-game gap.

Utah Jazz

The Jazz won 31 games last year, and they've hardly changed anything. So, there's no reason to suspect that they'll surpass the Rockets in 2024-25.

Sure, they're sitting on a mountain of draft capital. The Jazz could make a move for a superstar at this year's deadline. So could the Rockets, and they have a market advantage over the Jazz. If a star player is demanding a trade, they're more likely to cooperate in heading to Houston than Salt Lake City.

These teams are fringe cases

Sacramento Kings

The Kings won 46 games last year and added DeMar DeRozan. This is an open-and-shut case, right? They're better than the Rockets.

We're not so sure. DeRozan is a notoriously poor shooter. Domantas Sabonis is a low-volume three-point shooter who prefers to operate inside the key. If the Kings don't give De'Aaron Fox enough room to drive and kick, we're not sure how effective the Kings' system will be.