Rockets' future plans could still fall short as a result of frustrating rival team

The Houston Rockets, as they have undergone their rebuild, have built out an incredibly promising young core, and, with their addition of superstar Kevin Durant, they appear poised to pull off the rare feat of contending while maintaining a set of ascending young players under long-term contracts.

ESPN's recent future power rankings confirm this fact, ranking the Rockets second, but one rival organization, the Oklahoma City Thunder, might just have too much draft capital for Houston to compete with them on an organizational level.

Despite how positive the Rockets' outlook might be for years to come, it appears as though, barring catastrophe, the Thunder will be more well-poised: an extremely frustrating proposition for any team in the Western Conference.

The Oklahoma City Thunder may just be built too well to beat

As the offseason winds down, now is as good a time as any to conduct a closer examination of how each organization has positioned themselves for the future this offseason. The Thunder, who have their young core of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren under long-term control and are just coming off of their first championship as an organization, must have been the easy first choice for ESPN.

Yet, ESPN has also recently ranked Oklahoma City as the team with the most future first-round picks. While this is not a new revelation, it does serve as a reminder of just how difficult it will be to dethrone them for years to come.

As it stands, the Thunder hold 13 future first-round picks and 16 future second-round picks. To make matters worse, among these selections lie a 2026 top-four protected first from the Philadelphia 76ers and swap rights with the Los Angeles Clippers in 2027.

Given the trajectory of the 76ers, and the ongoing health issues of Joel Embiid and Paul George, that pick could very well become a high-lottery pick in the 5-10 range. Moreover, with the Clippers' ongoing Kawhi Leonard issues, those swap rights could also become unimaginably valuable in the near future.

The Rockets, meanwhile, have nine incoming future first-round picks and four second-round, and the most valuable of these is a 2027 unprotected first from the Phoenix Suns.

Nevertheless, they cannot compete with the flexibility that Oklahoma City has granted themselves. Even in this past draft, the team was forced to trade one of their two first-round picks as a result of their lack of roster spots, and, if they ultimately need to make a trade over the coming seasons, they will be the most well-positioned team in the league to do so.

Coupled with their dominance on the court, the Rockets have a tall, tall task ahead of them in topping the Thunder and reaching their ultimate goal: a championship. To have a team as well-poised as the Thunder in their own conference at this time is not only a stroke of bad timing: it is potentially disastrous for this organization.