What happened
Houston’s offense has surged after Fred VanVleet returned and Amen Thompson shifted off the ball, producing a league-best 121.1 offensive rating this season.
VanVleet said this week he wants more minutes alongside Reed Sheppard, and the Rockets also picked up Sheppard’s fourth-year option through 2028.
LINEUP CONTEXT
That keeps Houston’s guard rotation worth watching, but the exact VanVleet-Sheppard pairing and its nightly usage remain unsettled.
Automated brief based on the linked report. Lineup context is analysis; official starting-five labels come separately from our game data provider.
Original reporting: 2026-27 NBA Power Rankings Week 2: Houston takes over No. 1; Boston, Memphis leap into top-5 — NBC Sports ↗