The Houston Rockets got social media buzzing Monday when it was announced that they are trotting out an “all-tall” starting lineup for their NBA regular-season-opening game against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday.
Comprised of Steven Adams, Alperen Şengün, Jabari Smith Jr., Kevin Durant and Amen Thompson, no player in the lineup is shorter than 6’7″, and the average height of the five players is 6’10.2″.
Among fans on X, the unique lineup garnered plenty of posts and memes making light of the size disparity between the Rockets and other teams:
While the Rockets’ length could present matchup problems for the Thunder and other teams, not all of the X posts regarding the lineup were positive.
Some posts suggested that the Rockets still won’t be able to contend with reigning NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Thunder or Golden State Warriors superstar guard Stephen Curry, who eliminated Houston in the first round of the playoffs las season:
After going four straight seasons without a playoff appearance, the Rockets finally broke through last season with a 52-30 record.
Although they suffered an early postseason exit, the Rockets entered the offseason with momentum and decided to make a big move in the form of acquiring future Hall of Fame forward Kevin Durant from the Phoenix Suns.
The expectation going into the 2025-26 campaign was that the Rockets would likely start Şengün, Smith, Durant, Thompson and Fred VanVleet, but everything changed last month when VanVleet tore his ACL.
That left the Rockets without a true point guard, putting head coach Ime Udoka in a difficult situation.
Rather than forcing Reed Sheppard or Aaron Holiday into the lineup in a point guard role, Udoka decided to go big and to give Thompson the opportunity to be the team’s primary ball-handler following a breakout 2024-25 season.
It is fair to wonder if the Rockets’ initial lineup has enough ball-handling and shooting ability to thrive, but Udoka can always switch it up if the results aren’t there.
