After emerging as the Western Conference's No. 2 seed with a 52-30 record last year, the Houston Rockets have seen their home fan interest, well, rocket ahead of the 2025-26 season.
In fairness, there have been some pretty significant roster additions who could have had a major impact on fan engagement, too.
The Rockets pulled off the NBA's first-ever seven-team trade, sending former No. 2 pick Jalen Green, All-Defensive Team small forward Dillon Brooks, the No. 10 selection in this year's then-forthcoming draft (later used on Duke center Khaman Maluach), and five second-rounders to the Phoenix Suns in exchange for 15-time All-Star combo forward Kevin Durant.
A Summer of Change for Houston
The 6-foot-11 Texas product will play his home games in the Lone Star State for the first time in his pro career. Durant, still one of the league's most unstoppable shooters even at age 37, should greatly lift the Rockets' ceiling if he can stay healthy.
Durant isn't even the only new summer addition who could make an instant impact and improve the club's playoff chances. Houston also signed 3-and-D forward Dorian Finney-Smith, rim-rolling Rockets alum Clint Capela, and shooting guard Josh Okogie.
Per Michael Shapiro of The Houston Chronicle, Houston's home season-ticket sales have surged by 25 percent. Rockets president of business operations Gretchen Sheirr indicated that most Rockets home games have sold somewhere between 60-65 percent of the arena's capacity already, and that she thinks most Rockets home bouts will notch "full attendance."
MORE NEWS: Rockets' Alperen Sengun, Turkey fall short of EuroBasket Gold
"We're pretty excited about the season. I never want to talk about huge numbers, but our season-ticket base is up 25 percent," Sheirr said last week. "We've had more corporate sponsors that have joined in the past two years than we had previously, and we're expecting huge, big gains."
"Being back on national TV and opening the NBA season, it's just a testament to how much work we've put in as an organization and we're excited to share it with the fans in a couple of weeks," Sheirr added.
In fact, despite all their on-court success in 2024-25, the Rockets struggled to draw much of a crowd, finishing No. 18 out of 30 teams in attendance, according to David Broughton and Tom Friend of The Sports Business Journal.
MORE NEWS: Houston Rockets coach weighs in on addition of Kevin Duran