Rockets' NBA champion guard suffers torn ACL, likely to miss entire 2025-26 season

Rockets' NBA champion guard suffers torn ACL, likely to miss entire 2025-26 season originally appeared on The Sporting News

The Houston Rockets' growing momentum heading into the 2025-26 season came to a screeching halt on Monday, as it was reported that 9-year veteran point guard and 2019 NBA champion with the Toronto Raptors, Fred VanVleet, suffered a torn ACL.

"Just in: Houston Rockets' Fred VanVleet has suffered a torn ACL, sources tell ESPN," ESPN's Shams Charania shared via Twitter/X on Monday evening.

"A devastating, potentially season-ending loss for the Rockets with their starting point guard and leader."

Though the 31-year-old posted horrid shooting splits throughout the course of the 2024-25 regular season with Houston, the under-sized guard came alive for his team in their first-round 2025 NBA Playoff series against the Golden State Warriors.

VanVleet contributed 18.7 points and 4.4 assists while knocking down a blistering 43.5% of his 8.9 attempts from three-point range in the matchup. The Rockets ultimately fell to Golden State after a hard-fought seven games, but it was VanVleet's scoring punch that led Houston back to tie the series after trailing three games to one. 

This summer, the Rockets pulled off a blockbuster trade with the Phoenix Suns to land 15-time All-Star and 2-time NBA Finals MVP Kevin Durant, providing their young nucleus of Amen Thompson and Alperen Şengün with one of the greatest go-to scorers in league history.

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With VanVleet potentially out of the picture for the entirety of the 2025-26 campaign, the Rockets will be missing an experienced postseason player with championship D.N.A., an unwelcome sight for a roster boasting a 22-year-old Thompson and a 23-year-old Şengün as two of their three core pieces alongside the 36-year-old Durant.

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