offense has tanked<\/a> since the calendar flipped to 2026, and opposing defenses are doubling off Thompson to put pressure on Kevin Durant and Alperen Sengun to navigate double teams.<\/p>\nEven if the move doesn’t pay off, what do the Rockets have to lose? Anyone that Houston brings in through the buyout market won’t single-handedly solve their shooting problems, so the solution will have to come internally. Sheppard performed admirably in Thompson’s spot against OKC, logging 16 points on an efficient 7-for-12 effort from the field while dishing out 6 assists.<\/p>\n
He only shot 25% from deep against the Thunder, but he’s a respected shooter, and teams can’t afford to leave him open. With Thompson unwilling to even shoot when he’s wide open, Sheppard’s shooting gravity offers a lot more space for Sengun and Durant to operate.<\/p>\n
When paired with Tari Eason, who hit five threes and scored a game-high 26 points against OKC, having Sheppard in the lineup gives Houston a more balanced offense. Durant and Sengun had just 22 shot attempts, but shot a combined 54% from the field.<\/p>\n
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Moving Thompson to the bench may not be the answer for Houston, and the Rockets will need him to be at his best to make a deep playoff run, regardless of what his role is. That being said, a team like the Clippers is a perfect opportunity for Udoka to tinker with the lineup. Udoka may put all the rumors to bed and start Thompson anyway, but Houston’s offense is clearly flawed, and there’s still time to look for a solution.<\/p>\n
This article originally appeared on Rockets Wire: Is Amen Thompson still starter for Rockets after win over OKC Thunder?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There’s no denying Amen Thompson’s talent. Through 50 games in the 2025-26 season, Thompson’s been an absolute force…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":579840,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[40],"tags":[8435,7197,3136,3359,1260,32691,8595,62,8607,34478,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-579839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-amen-thompson","tag-clippers","tag-houston-rockets","tag-kevin-durant","tag-nba","tag-okc-thunder","tag-sengun","tag-sports","tag-tari-eason","tag-udoka","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116046362679329561","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=579839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579839\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/579840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=579839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=579839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=579839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}