Rockets cannot address their new weakness until a specific date on the calendar

Houston Rockets fans are devastated by the news of Fred VanVleet's season-ending ACL injury. It's going to create massive problems for the team that they can't consider fixing until December 15th.

Let's start with the obvious - wishing VanVleet well. That's the most important factor here. The hope is that once he recovers, he'll be able to continue his career unabated.

Nobody is more impacted than VanVleet himself. Still, this also hurts the team - and its fans. The Rockets are now left without a starting-caliber point guard on the roster.

Can Amen Thompson fill that void? It's possible, but he's spent the first two (excellent) seasons of his career as a wing. Reed Sheppard retains potential, but he did not look like someone ready to wear VanVleet's shoes during his rookie campaign. Aaron Holiday exists, but he's not a starter. This is a problem:

The only possible solution is still months away.

Rockets' point guard woes exacerbated by NBA rules

Here's a list of Rockets who aren't eligible to be traded until December 15th:

Fred VanVleet
Steven Adams
Dorian Finney-Smith
Clint Capela
Jabari Smith Jr.
Josh Okogie
Jae'Sean Tate
Aaron Holiday
Jeff Green

It'd be quicker to list the players they can trade. Let's do that.

Alperen Sengun
Amen Thompson
Tari Eason
Kevin Durant
Reed Sheppard

If you're trading any of those guys just to fill a point guard vacancy in the beginning of the season, well, don't bother sending your resume to the Rockets' front office any time soon.

It's not a viable option. So, here we are. The Rockets don't have enough cap space to sign even Russell Westbrook if they wanted. The team is certifiably stuck for the time being.

What's going to happen when the 15th rolls around?

Rockets will have to make a trade this season

Ideally, they'll make a trade.

The most elegant solution is to trade VanVleet and some assets for a comparable player to VanVleet. Derrick White and Jrue Holiday are two players in his price range who could feasibly be available. That said, the optics of discarding VanVleet as soon as he isn't useful are a bit rough.

Some fans will want to trade one of the two backup bigs. That's definitely an option, but it would be unfortunate. The Rockets seem set on having the ability to run dual big man lineups at will.

Perhaps Okogie is the best option. He's superfolous in the deepest wing rotation in the NBA. The one barrier there is his modest contract. Flipping Okogie for a starting-level point guard will be a challenge.

One of Capela or Okogie will likely be getting shipped out as Christmas approaches. All the Rockets can do in the meantime is stay afloat. As long as this team is firmly in the playoff mix by then, they could potentially make a deal that saves the season:

But for now, that hardly makes the news any less devastating.