After The Timeout · NBA 2026-27 guide

Western Conference · tip-off October 20

Houston Rockets

Our win estimate next to the market's, the last three seasons, who came and went, and the rotation we expect.

Our estimate

51 wins

Median of 20,000 simulated seasons. Middle 80%: 45 to 56 wins.

The market

51.5 wins

Where the Kalshi yes price for "wins or more" crosses 50%.

Last season

52-30

2025-26 · net rating +5.3 (6th in the NBA)

Our estimate and the market are within 0.2 wins of each other.

Treat the gap as a flag, not a verdict. In backtests on 2024-25 and 2025-26 (60 team-seasons) this kind of estimate missed a team's win total by 8.3 wins on average. Last season's wins pulled toward 41 missed by 9.0. Ratings built from games alone said 46 wins for this team.

Fred VanVleet (34 projected minutes) has no 2025-26 regular-season games on file but is in the rotation we expect. Our roster rating counts him at his most recent full season.

Two ways to count wins

Our range against the market

The blue bar is the middle 80% of our simulated seasons. The orange line is the market's win total.

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 51.5 market wins in an 82-game season
Our median 51, middle 80%: 45 to 56 Market 51.5

Where we think they finish in the West

Top 6: 95% Play-in, 7th to 10th: 4.7% Outside the top 10: 0.1%
Market prices by strikeKalshi, captured Oct 19, 4:38 pm UTC
Wins or moreBidAskMidOur odds
2096¢ 100¢ 98¢ 100%
2595¢ 100¢ 98¢ 100%
3087¢ 98¢ 93¢ 100%
3591¢ 100¢ 96¢ 100%
4079¢ 96¢ 88¢ 99%
4569¢ 78¢ 74¢ 93%
5057¢ 59¢ 58¢ 61%
5529¢ 35¢ 32¢ 18%
609¢ 15¢ 12¢ 2%
6511¢ 27¢ 19¢ 0%

A strike with no bid is treated as unpriced. The market win total is a straight line between the two strikes that straddle 50%.

What the scoreboard said

The last three regular seasons

Ratings are points per 100 possessions. Possessions are estimated from box scores, so treat them as close, not exact. Ranks are out of 30.

2025-26 · 52-30 (8th in wins)

Points per game
115.218th
Allowed per game
110.04th
Offensive rating
116.09th
Defensive rating
110.85th
Net rating
+5.36th

2024-25 · 52-30 (4th in wins)

Points per game
114.313th
Allowed per game
109.86th
Offensive rating
112.816th
Defensive rating
108.43rd
Net rating
+4.57th

2023-24 · 41-41 (19th in wins)

Points per game
114.316th
Allowed per game
113.214th
Offensive rating
112.321st
Defensive rating
111.29th
Net rating
+1.118th

Our preseason ratings

Offense
-0.3719th
Defense
-2.606th
Net, games only
+2.238th
Roster value
+3.69

Offense, defense and net are points per game against an average team, fitted on every completed game before tip-off (defense: lower is better). Roster value is the on-court net per 48 minutes of the players on the roster list, weighted by minutes.

Who came and who left

Offseason moves

Built from the DraftKings roster list and 2025-26 box scores. Players who left had at least 500 regular-season minutes here last season.

In (7)

  • Marcus Smartfrom LAL
    28.5 min, 9.3 pts a game
  • Bogdan Bogdanovicfrom LAC
    19.7 min, 7.4 pts a game
  • Oscar Tshiebwefrom UTAH
    16.6 min, 7.8 pts a game
  • Julian Phillipsfrom MIN
    8.9 min, 2.9 pts a game
  • Sean Pedullafrom LAC
    4.4 min, 1.9 pts a game
2 moredepth and rookies
  • Fred VanVleetReturningLast played 2024-25 for HOU
  • Bruce ThorntonRookie / newNo NBA box score on file

Out (3)

  • Josh Okogienow with UTAH
    17.4 min, 4.5 pts a game
  • Aaron Holidaynot on a 2026-27 roster we can see
    13.7 min, 5.5 pts a game
  • Dorian Finney-Smithnow with ATL
    16.7 min, 3.3 pts a game

The rotation we expect

Top eight by projected minutes

Minutes come from our DFS minutes projection and are not scaled to a 240-minute game. Open a player for three seasons of per-game lines and shooting.

Amen Thompson G · age 23 · 38.9 projected min 2025-26: 79 g, 18.3 pts, 7.8 reb, 5.3 ast

2025-26 · HOU

79games
37.4min
18.3pts
7.8reb
FG53.4%557/1044
3P21.6%25/116
FT77.9%304/390

5.3 assists a game

2024-25 · HOU

69games
32.2min
14.1pts
8.2reb
FG55.7%388/697
3P27.5%25/91
FT68.4%169/247

3.8 assists a game

2023-24 · HOU

62games
22.4min
9.5pts
6.6reb
FG53.6%239/446
3P13.8%8/58
FT68.4%106/155

2.6 assists a game

Kevin Durant F · age 38 · 36.4 projected min 2025-26: 78 g, 26.0 pts, 5.5 reb, 4.8 ast

2025-26 · HOU

78games
36.4min
26.0pts
5.5reb
FG52.0%716/1376
3P41.3%186/450
FT87.4%408/467

4.8 assists a game

2024-25 · PHX

62games
36.6min
26.6pts
6.0reb
FG52.7%592/1124
3P43.0%160/372
FT83.9%303/361

4.2 assists a game

2023-24 · PHX

75games
37.2min
27.1pts
6.6reb
FG52.3%751/1436
3P41.3%168/407
FT85.6%362/423

5.0 assists a game

Jabari Smith Jr. F · age 23 · 35.6 projected min 2025-26: 77 g, 15.8 pts, 6.9 reb, 1.9 ast

2025-26 · HOU

77games
35.1min
15.8pts
6.9reb
FG44.9%438/975
3P36.3%177/488
FT77.5%162/209

1.9 assists a game

2024-25 · HOU

57games
30.1min
12.2pts
7.0reb
FG43.8%248/566
3P35.4%98/277
FT82.5%104/126

1.1 assists a game

2023-24 · HOU

76games
31.9min
13.7pts
8.1reb
FG45.4%378/833
3P36.3%138/380
FT81.1%150/185

1.6 assists a game

Fred VanVleet G · 34.2 projected min 2025-26: no regular-season games on file

2025-26

No regular-season games on file.

2024-25 · HOU

60games
35.2min
14.1pts
3.7reb
FG37.8%287/759
3P34.5%159/461
FT81.0%111/137

5.5 assists a game

2023-24 · HOU

73games
36.8min
17.4pts
3.8reb
FG41.6%423/1018
3P38.7%227/586
FT86.0%197/229

8.1 assists a game

Alperen Sengun C · age 24 · 31.6 projected min 2025-26: 72 g, 20.4 pts, 8.9 reb, 6.2 ast

2025-26 · HOU

72games
33.3min
20.4pts
8.9reb
FG51.9%583/1123
3P30.5%40/131
FT69.1%260/376

6.2 assists a game

2024-25 · HOU

76games
31.6min
19.1pts
10.3reb
FG49.6%567/1143
3P23.3%21/90
FT69.2%296/428

4.9 assists a game

2023-24 · HOU

63games
32.5min
21.1pts
9.3reb
FG53.7%527/982
3P29.7%33/111
FT69.3%244/352

5.0 assists a game

Marcus Smart New here G · age 32 · 28.4 projected min 2025-26: 62 g, 9.3 pts, 2.8 reb, 3.0 ast

2025-26 · LAL

62games
28.5min
9.3pts
2.8reb
FG39.5%188/476
3P33.1%97/293
FT82.2%106/129

3.0 assists a game

2024-25 · MEM/WSH

34games
20.0min
9.0pts
2.1reb
FG39.3%101/257
3P34.8%49/141
FT76.1%54/71

3.2 assists a game

2023-24 · MEM

20games
30.1min
14.4pts
2.6reb
FG43.0%102/237
3P31.3%42/134
FT76.8%43/56

4.3 assists a game

Reed Sheppard G · age 22 · 25.3 projected min 2025-26: 82 g, 13.5 pts, 2.9 reb, 3.4 ast

2025-26 · HOU

82games
26.2min
13.5pts
2.9reb
FG43.0%407/946
3P39.4%227/576
FT80.2%69/86

3.4 assists a game

2024-25 · HOU

52games
12.6min
4.4pts
1.5reb
FG35.1%84/239
3P33.8%48/142
FT81.2%13/16

1.4 assists a game

2023-24

No regular-season games on file.

Tari Eason F · age 25 · 24.8 projected min 2025-26: 60 g, 10.4 pts, 6.3 reb, 1.5 ast

2025-26 · HOU

60games
25.9min
10.4pts
6.3reb
FG41.6%241/580
3P35.8%93/260
FT77.6%52/67

1.5 assists a game

2024-25 · HOU

57games
24.9min
12.0pts
6.4reb
FG48.7%272/559
3P34.2%63/184
FT76.0%79/104

1.5 assists a game

2023-24 · HOU

22games
21.8min
9.8pts
7.0reb
FG46.6%88/189
3P36.0%18/50
FT63.6%21/33

1.2 assists a game

How to read this

Method and limits

How our estimate is built
  • Our estimate starts from the roster. Each player's on-court net points per 48 minutes (from his most recent full season, pulled toward zero when the sample is small) is averaged by minutes across the roster list, then turned into wins at about 2.9 wins per point of net.
  • That win total is then pushed through the real 2026-27 schedule 20,000 times, using a home win probability for every game, to get the range and the playoff and play-in odds.
  • Ratings built from games alone (6,153 games before October 20) are kept as a comparison. They fade old games over the offseason, which pulls every team toward average.
  • The market number is the wins where Kalshi's "wins or more" price crosses 50%, read off a straight line between strikes five wins apart.
What the estimate does not know
  • Possessions are an estimate from box totals, not tracked possessions.
  • The season simulation uses each game's win probability from the ratings and nothing else: no rating uncertainty, injuries, trades after the cutoff or in-season rating updates, so the 10th-90th percentile band is narrower than a real season's spread.
  • The 2026-27 schedule file lists 1200 games (80 per team on average) rather than 1230. Each team's missing games ([2] per team) are played against an average opponent at a neutral site with no rest terms.
  • Projection method: (d) roster values. In the walk-forward study its hold-out MAE was 8.3 wins (n = 60 team-seasons) against 9.0 for last season's wins regressed toward 41. Typical error is still about 8 wins per team, so treat every number as a wide estimate.
  • Roster values use each player's box-score plus-minus, which is not adjusted for teammates. Players with no box-score history count as average at 10 minutes a game.
  • Ties in the seeding are broken at random; head-to-head and division rules are not applied.
  • Every team has a usable market median.
  • Market median uses the midpoint of the yes bid and ask for each strike and a straight line between the two strikes (5 wins apart) that straddle 0.5; a strike with no bid is treated as unpriced.
  • Rosters are the DraftKings Best Ball player list for draft group 150564, kept only where the player is on his team's current ESPN roster (ESPN team rosters, 2026-10-19): released and departed players are out. Players DraftKings lists as Out are not in the engine's pool, so they have no projected minutes and are not in the top 8; each team's moves block names them.
  • Projected minutes are the engine's per-player estimates from box scores through 2026-04-12; they are not scaled to the team's 240 minutes and do not model new teammates.
  • Box scores start in 2021-22; a player with no box score on file is marked as a rookie or new, which can include veterans returning from abroad. Ages come from the ESPN player directory (2025-26 file) and are missing for players it does not list.
  • This team has 2 games the schedule file does not list yet; they are treated as games against an average opponent.

Data built Oct 19, 2026. Estimates are ours and can be wrong.