Rockets can only watch as the perfect free agent sits on the market

As the Houston Rockets approach the 2025-26 NBA season, their roster still maintains a glaring need: another reliable ball-handler behind starting point guard Fred VanVleet.

Yet, their lack of financial flexibility as a result of their proximity to the first apron is preventing them from filling their final roster spot, and the organization can only watch as a perfect free agent target such as Cam Payne sits unsigned near the beginning of training camp.

Payne, 31, is one of a number of veteran guards who remain unsigned, and is one of the only ones who have not already been tied to the guard-obsessed Golden State Warriors. Yet, as the free agent market continues to close, a dire role for the Rockets will go unfilled.

Cam Payne would be the perfect free agent target, but the Rockets have no power to get him

With their acquisition of Kevin Durant this offseason, the Rockets made an intentional move to reshape their roster around a generational scorer and bona-fide superstar. Yet, in doing so, they were forced to ship off half of their starting backcourt in the form of Jalen Green, and, now, they are left with very few options to fill his role.

While it is likely that ascending young star Amen Thompson will slide back in the starting lineup to fill the two spot, neither of the team's bench options, including Reed Sheppard and Aaron Holiday, have proven to be more than peripheral floor generals.

Holiday does have a versatile skill-set, but he only has two seasons in his career where he has averaged more than two assists. Sheppard, meanwhile, projects mostly as a catch-and-shoot threat and operates best when he is playing off the ball, meaning that relying upon him as a playmaker would put a definite ceiling on his offensive potential.

Payne, meanwhile, has been a reliable back-up point guard over the last decade for a number of organizations, and he played that exact role in his most recent stint with the New York Knicks. Although head coach Tom Thibodeau was infamously hesitant to grant his bench significant minutes, Payne still managed to average 2.8 assists in just 15.1 minutes per game.

Therefore, while Houston is still poised to have one of the deepest benches in the league, bringing a player such as Payne in on a veteran minimum would make their bench unit more cohesive and significantly more lethal. Yet, given the way they have managed this offseason, the organization has no ability to do so, and this lack of flexibility could come back to bite them as the season wears on.