2020–21 Houston Rockets season

The 2020–21 Houston Rockets season will be the 54th season of the franchise in the National Basketball Association (NBA), and their 50th in the Houston area.[1]

2020–21 Houston Rockets season
Head coach	Stephen Silas
General manager	Rafael Stone
Owners	Tilman Fertitta
Arena	Toyota Center
Results
Record	10–9 (.526)
Place	Division: 3rd (Southwest) Conference: 10th (Western)
Stats @ Basketball-Reference.com
Local media
Television	AT&T SportsNet Southwest
Radio	Sportstalk 790

On September 13, 2020, Mike D'Antoni informed the Rockets that he would not return as head coach after coaching the team for four seasons.[2] On October 30, 2020, the Rockets hired Stephen Silas as their new head coach.[3] On October 15, 2020, Rockets general manager Daryl Morey resigned from the position. Rafael Stone then was named as the general manager for the Rockets.[4][5][6] This was also James Harden's final season in Houston, as he was traded to the Brooklyn Nets in a blockbuster 4 team deal trade. It reunited him with former Thunder teammate Kevin Durant for the first time since the 2011–12 season.

Draft

The Rockets did not hold any picks for the 2020 NBA draft. This was the fourth time in franchise history that they did not hold any picks in the draft; the last time was in 2015.

Roster

Roster listing

Houston Rockets roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Name Height Weight DOB (YYYY-MM-DD) From G/F 0 Brown, Sterling 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 219 lb (99 kg) 1995-02-10 SMU C 15 Cousins, DeMarcus 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 270 lb (122 kg) 1990-08-13 Kentucky G 5 Exum, Dante  6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 214 lb (97 kg) 1995-07-13 Australia G 10 Gordon, Eric 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 215 lb (98 kg) 1988-12-25 Indiana G/F 4 House, Danuel 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 220 lb (100 kg) 1993-06-07 Texas A&M G 9 Jones, Mason (TW) 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 200 lb (91 kg) 1998-07-21 Arkansas F 00 Kurucs, Rodions 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 228 lb (103 kg) 1998-02-05 Latvia F 6 Martin, Kenyon 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 215 lb (98 kg) 2001-01-06 IMG Academy (FL) G 16 McLemore, Ben 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 1993-02-11 Kansas G/F 2 Nwaba, David 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 219 lb (99 kg) 1993-01-14 Cal Poly San Luis Obispo G 7 Oladipo, Victor 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 213 lb (97 kg) 1992-05-04 Indiana G/F 3 Porter, Kevin 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 203 lb (92 kg) 2000-05-04 Southern California F 8 Tate, Jae'Sean 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 230 lb (104 kg) 1995-10-28 Ohio State G 33 Thomas, Brodric (TW) 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 1997-01-28 Truman State F 17 Tucker, P. J. 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 245 lb (111 kg) 1985-05-05 Texas G 1 Wall, John 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1990-09-06 Kentucky F 35 Wood, Christian 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 214 lb (97 kg) 1995-09-27 UNLV	Head coach Stephen Silas Assistant coach(es) DeSagana Diop Rick Higgins Jeff Hornacek John Lucas Will Weaver Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended (GL) On assignment to G League affiliate (TW) Two-way affiliate player Injured Roster Last transaction: January 22, 2021

Standings

Division

Southwest Division	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Div	GP
San Antonio Spurs	13	10	.565	0.0	6–7	7–3	3–5	23
Houston Rockets	11	11	.500	1.5	5–5	6–6	4–3	22
Memphis Grizzlies	9	9	.500	1.5	3–6	6–3	2–3	18
New Orleans Pelicans	10	12	.455	2.5	6–5	4–7	2–1	22
Dallas Mavericks	10	14	.417	3.5	3–7	7–7	2–1	24

Conference

Western Conference
#	Team	W	L	PCT	GB	GP
1	Utah Jazz *	18	5	.783	–	23
2	Los Angeles Lakers *	18	6	.750	0.5	24
3	Los Angeles Clippers	17	7	.708	1.5	24
4	Phoenix Suns	12	9	.571	5.0	21
5	San Antonio Spurs *	13	10	.565	5.0	23
6	Denver Nuggets	12	10	.545	5.5	22
7	Portland Trail Blazers	12	10	.545	5.5	22
8	Golden State Warriors	12	11	.522	6.0	23
9	Houston Rockets	11	11	.500	6.5	22
10	Memphis Grizzlies	9	9	.500	6.5	18
11	Sacramento Kings	11	11	.500	6.5	22
12	New Orleans Pelicans	10	12	.455	7.5	22
13	Oklahoma City Thunder	10	12	.455	7.5	22
14	Dallas Mavericks	10	14	.417	8.5	24
15	Minnesota Timberwolves	6	17	.261	12.0	23

Game log

Preseason

2020 preseason game log Total: (Home: 2–0; Road: 1–1)
Preseason: 3–1 (Home: 2–0; Road: 1–1) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 1 December 11 @ Chicago W 125–104 Bruno Caboclo (17) Bruno Caboclo (7) John Wall (9) United Center 1–0 2 December 13 @ Chicago L 91–104 John Wall (21) DeMarcus Cousins (6) John Wall (4) United Center 1–1 3 December 15 San Antonio W 112–98 John Wall (15) DeMarcus Cousins (11) James Harden (4) Toyota Center 2–1 4 December 17 San Antonio W 128–106 Christian Wood (27) Christian Wood (10) James Harden (9) Toyota Center 3–1
2020–21 season schedule

Regular season

2020–21 game log Total: 11–10 (Home: 4–4; Road: 7–6)
December: 1–2 (Home: 1–0; Road: 0–2) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 1 December 23 Oklahoma City POSTPONED Toyota Center 2 December 26 @ Portland L 126–128 (OT) James Harden (44) Christian Wood (13) James Harden (17) Moda Center 0 0–1 3 December 28 @ Denver L 111–124 James Harden (34) Jae'Sean Tate (7) James Harden (8) Ball Arena 0 0–2 4 December 31 Sacramento W 122–119 James Harden (33) Christian Wood (12) John Wall (9) Toyota Center 0 1–2
January: 8–7 (Home: 3–4; Road: 5–3) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 5 January 2 Sacramento W 102–94 John Wall (28) Christian Wood (15) John Wall (6) Toyota Center 0 2–2 6 January 4 Dallas L 100–113 Christian Wood (23) Christian Wood (7) James Harden (10) Toyota Center 0 2–3 7 January 6 @ Indiana L 107–114 John Wall (28) DeMarcus Cousins (14) James Harden (12) Bankers Life Fieldhouse 0 2–4 8 January 8 Orlando W 132–90 Christian Wood (22) Christian Wood (15) James Harden (13) Toyota Center 0 3–4 9 January 10 L.A Lakers L 102–120 Christian Wood (23) John Wall (10) James Harden (9) Toyota Center 0 3–5 10 January 12 L.A Lakers L 100–117 Christian Wood (18) DeMarcus Cousins (10) James Harden (7) Toyota Center 0 3–6 11 January 14 @ San Antonio W 109–105 Christian Wood (27) Christian Wood (15) Jae'Sean Tate (10) AT&T Center 0 4–6 12 January 16 @ San Antonio L 91–103 Jones, Wood (24) Christian Wood (18) Jae'Sean Tate (5) AT&T Center 0 4–7 13 January 18 @ Chicago L 120–125 Victor Oladipo (32) Christian Wood (9) Victor Oladipo (9) United Center 0 4–8 14 January 20 Phoenix L 103–109 Gordon, Oladipo (22) Christian Wood (11) Victor Oladipo (6) Toyota Center 0 4–9 15 January 22 @ Detroit W 103–102 Eric Gordon (20) DeMarcus Cousins (15) DeMarcus Cousins (7) Little Caesars Arena 0 5–9 16 January 23 @ Dallas W 133–108 Eric Gordon (33) DeMarcus Cousins (17) John Wall (8) American Airlines Center 0 6–9 17 January 26 @ Washington W 107–88 John Wall (24) DeMarcus Cousins (11) John Wall (5) Toyota Center 2,996 7–9 18 January 28 Portland W 104–101 Victor Oladipo (25) Christian Wood (12) John Wall (6) Toyota Center 3,154 8–9 19 January 30 @ New Orleans W 126–112 Christian Wood (27) Tate, Wood (9) John Wall (9) Smoothie King Center 1,440 9–9
February: 2–1 (Home: 0–0; Road: 2–1) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 20 February 1 @ Oklahoma City W 136–106 Eric Gordon (25) Christian Wood (11) Victor Oladipo (7) Chesapeake Energy Arena 0 10–9 22 February 3 @ Oklahoma City L 87–104 Eric Gordon (22) Brown, Wood (6) Eric Gordon (4) Chesapeake Energy Arena 0 10–10 17 February 4 @ Memphis W 113–105 John Wall (22) P. J. Tucker (8) John Wall (8) FedExForum 0 11–10
March: 0–0 (Home: 0–0; Road: 0–0) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record
April: 0–0 (Home: 0–0; Road: 0–0) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record {{NBA game log section|Houston Rockets|May|first=no|show=no home_wins = 0 home_losses = 0 road_wins = 0 road_losses = 0
2020–21 season schedule

Transactions

Trades

November 22, 2020	To Houston Rockets Trevor Ariza Isaiah Stewart First round draft pick (2021)	To Portland Trail Blazers Robert Covington
November 24, 2020	To Houston Rockets Christian Wood First round draft pick (2021) Second round draft pick (2021)	To Detroit Pistons Trevor Ariza Isaiah Stewart Second round draft pick (2027) Cash considerations
November 25, 2020	To Houston Rockets Kenyon Martin Jr.	To Sacramento Kings Second round draft pick (2021) Cash considerations
November 27, 2020	To Houston Rockets Draft rights to Issuf Sanon	To New York Knicks Draft rights to Tadija Dragićević Draft rights to Axel Hervelle Draft rights to Sergio Llull Austin Rivers (sign-and-trade)
November 27, 2020	To Houston Rockets John Wall First round draft pick (2023)	To Washington Wizards Russell Westbrook
January 22, 2021	To Houston Rockets Kevin Porter Jr.	To Cleveland Cavaliers Future second round draft pick

Free agents

Re-signed

Player	Signed
Austin Rivers	November 25, 2020 (sign-and-trade)
Bruno Caboclo	November 26, 2020
Kenyon Martin Jr.	November 30, 2020

Additions

Player	Signed	Date	Former team
Mason Jones	Free agent	November 19, 2020	Undrafted
Kenny Wooten	Free agent	November 21, 2020	Westchester Knicks
Sterling Brown	Free agent	November 25, 2020	Milwaukee Bucks
Jae'Sean Tate	Multi-year contract	November 25, 2020	Sydney Kings
Brodric Thomas	Exhibit 10 contract	November 30, 2020	Undrafted
Trevelin Queen	Exhibit 10 contract	November 30, 2020	Undrafted
Jerian Grant	Free agent	November 30, 2020	Capital City Go-Go
DeMarcus Cousins	Free agent	November 30, 2020	Los Angeles Lakers
Gerald Green	Free agent	November 30, 2020	Denver Nuggets

Subtractions

Player	Reason left	Date	New Team
Austin Rivers	Free agent / sign-and-trade	November 27, 2020	New York Knicks

References

1. "Houston Rockets Franchise Index | Basketball-Reference.com". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved November 21, 2020.
2. Reynolds, Tim (September 13, 2020). "Mike D'Antoni tells Rockets he won't return as coach". NBA.com. Retrieved September 14, 2020.
3. "Rockets Name Stephen Silas Head Coach". NBA.com. October 30, 2020. Retrieved October 30, 2020.
4. "Daryl Morey stepping down as Houston Rockets GM". ESPN.com. October 15, 2020. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
5. "Statements Regarding Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey". NBA.com. October 15, 2020. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
6. Rieken, Kristie (October 15, 2020). "Daryl Morey stepping down as Rockets GM after 13 seasons". NBA.com. Retrieved October 15, 2020.