Kyrie Irving didn’t just beat the Rockets on Friday night. He gave Houston a very direct answer about why he’s been talked about as a possible trade fit.
Irving piled up 35 points and 9 assists as the Rockets suffered their first loss of the NBA season, and he did it while the game carried extra weight as an NBA Cup matchup. Houston has gotten solid point guard play so far, but Irving showed exactly how much more dangerous that spot can be when he’s operating at full speed.
This wasn’t a quiet scoring night padded against soft defense, either. Irving kept finding answers against a Houston group headlined by Marcus Smart, Amen Thompson and Tari Eason, three perimeter stoppers who are among the league’s most respected.
It didn’t matter. He kept carving up the defense with shotmaking and playmaking, the kind of all-around control that makes him such a difficult cover when he’s rolling.
The numbers backed up the eye test. Irving shot 12-of-19 from the field, 5-of-8 from three-point range and 6-of-6 from the free throw line. Houston didn’t get the same kind of clean efficiency from its own backcourt and stars, with Fred VanVleet finishing 6-of-17 and Kevin Durant going 9-of-20, including 1-of-6 from deep.
Irving had come into the night with a fairly muted start to the season, averaging just 18 points per game over his first five games. That made Friday feel more revealing, not less. Against the toughest opponent he’s faced this season, he looked like the player who can bend a game whenever the pressure rises.
That’s why he belongs near the top of Houston’s trade board if the Rockets decide to swing big. He’s been mentioned as a possible target before, but this showing should make the fit much easier to picture.
If Houston were to land him, likely in a deal built around VanVleet and additional assets, the effect would be immediate. Irving and Durant have already proven what they can do together with the Nets, and that kind of offensive punch next to Houston’s defense would give the Rockets a very different ceiling.
There’s also the development angle to consider. A move for Irving would bring obvious questions about how it changes the Rockets’ young core, but the source material points to a different possibility: that he could accelerate it.
His work alongside Luka Doncic in Dallas, where Doncic reached the Finals one season after teaming up with Irving, is part of that case. So is the early-season rise of Cooper Flagg, who has looked tremendous to start this season.
As for Houston’s own young talent, there’s no clear reason Irving would stall it. Thompson and Alperen Sengun could benefit from his ability to put teammates in better spots and help them read the game more clearly. Friday night was proof of just how much he can tilt a matchup when he’s in that mode.
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Pistons Enter NBA Cup With Something To Prove Against Hot Starts
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Sengun has been doing more than just anchoring the frontcourt for a team that looks built to survive hot stretches from opponents. With the Rockets unbeaten and other clubs around the league matching that kind of start, Houstons next test is less about proving it can win early and more about showing it can keep doing it when the schedule starts asking tougher questions. [Read more 🡒]