From San Diego to Houston
The Rockets began in San Diego, moved to Houston in 1971 and built their first lasting identity around Hayes, Murphy and Tomjanovich.
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NBA franchise
Houston Rockets
Archive coverage 1967 to 2026
5,105
Games
59
Seasons
470
Indexed players
2026
Latest season
The full franchise story
Every era of the Houston Rockets.
Houston's history is a succession of dominant centers and radical offensive ideas: Elvin Hayes, Moses Malone, the Twin Towers, Hakeem Olajuwon's title teams, Yao and McGrady, then James Harden turning isolation and three-point volume into a yearly contender.
Historical reference: Houston Rockets official franchise records and history ↗Moses and the first Finals
Moses Malone became the league's most punishing rebounder and carried a 40-win Houston team through the West to the 1981 NBA Finals.
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The Twin Towers—and Dream takes over
Houston paired Sampson with Olajuwon, reached the 1986 Finals and then reorganized around Hakeem as injuries dissolved the original Twin Towers plan.
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Clutch City
Olajuwon became the league's defining two-way center. Houston survived elimination games, won back-to-back titles and added Drexler for the second run.
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The bridge to a new backcourt
The aging contender took one last swing before a young, explosive backcourt gave the post-Hakeem Rockets a different personality.
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Yao and T-Mac
Yao's touch and size paired with McGrady's scoring imagination. Their ceiling was obvious, but health repeatedly interrupted the playoff breakthrough.
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The Harden experiment
The 2012 trade made Harden a franchise player. Houston kept rebuilding the roster around his creation until the 2018 team came within one win of the Finals.
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The young-core rebuild
After Harden's departure, Houston accumulated young talent and shifted from open-ended rebuilding toward defense, internal growth and another playoff chase.
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Franchise leaders
Most indexed appearances
Hakeem Olajuwon1,306 appearancesCalvin Murphy1,052 appearancesRobert Reid832 appearancesRudy Tomjanovich805 appearancesAllen Leavell763 appearancesJames Harden725 appearancesMike Newlin626 appearancesMatt Bullard592 appearancesElvin Hayes581 appearancesOtis Thorpe564 appearancesKenny Smith536 appearancesMing Yao526 appearances
Season history
Past seasons
59 seasons · newest first
Game archive
Houston Rockets games
5,105 total · loaded 10 at a time