The Houston Rockets have encountered a bit of turbulence as of late, losers of four out of their last five games to slip to play-in territory in the Western Conference. The Rockets most recently lost to the Sacramento Kings on Sunday evening by a score of 111-98, following up two straight defeats at the hands of the Portland Trail Blazers.
Recently, the Rockets announced a new tradition in their home arena, which would entail a player from the team pressing a button that sets off smoke in the building, similar to how the Kings have a player “light the beam” after wins.
On Sunday, the Kings took the opportunity to troll Kevin Durant and the Rockets by editing over a video from Houston's social media feed.
new year, same traditions 🟣🔦#LightTheBeam https://t.co/XgCCO8zmsu pic.twitter.com/37tDm9F1Bu
— Sacramento Kings (@SacramentoKings) January 12, 2026
Needless to say, fans in the comment section on X, formerly Twitter, were loving the level of pettiness from Sacramento.
“HAHAHAHHAAHAHHA THIS IS GOLD,” wrote one fan.
Meanwhile, Rockets fans were not thrilled with the troll job.
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“Getting trolled by the worst team in the league and can’t even say anything. Fairs kings……Fairs,” wrote a Rockets fan.
Overall, the Rockets have shown some signs of slippage in recent weeks after a hot start to the year had some fans labeling as the Oklahoma City Thunder's biggest threats in the Western Conference.
While Durant and co-star Alperen Sengun have continued to put up solid counting stats on a nightly basis, the production of some of Houston's role players, including Jabari Smith Jr. has begun to taper off, and the team's lack of a true point guard on its roster is starting to show up in a glaring way.
The Rockets planned for that role to go to Fred VanVleet, but he is currently sidelined due to an ACL injury.
Houston will look to get back into the win column on Tuesday evening at home vs the Chicago Bulls.