The Houston Rockets entered the 2025-26 season facing a serious curveball. Just as training camp was ramping up, veteran point guard Fred VanVleet suffered an injury that immediately cast doubt on his availability for the entire season.
For a young team that had been leaning on VanVleet’s leadership and experience, it was a gut punch. But the Rockets didn’t flinch.
They rolled with what they had, leaned into their depth, and have held their ground in a competitive Western Conference.
Now sitting at 23-15 after a recent loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, Houston finds itself in sixth place in the West, clinging to a half-game lead over the Phoenix Suns. Not bad, all things considered. But if we’re being honest, this team could use a little more stability at the point guard spot - someone to bring order to the offense and elevate the young core.
Enter Dwyane Wade with a pointed suggestion: Chris Paul.
“They need an organizer. A quarterback, a conductor,” Wade said Thursday.
“They need a guy who can get guys in their spots. They need a guy who can play with bigs.
They got Sengun and Adams. Chris Paul is out there.
They need a veteran. They need a guy who doesn’t need to score.
Chris Paul is out there. Just throwing that out there.”
Wade isn’t wrong. The Rockets have talent - Alperen Şengün has taken another step forward, Steven Adams brings muscle inside, and Jalen Green can light it up.
But what they’re missing is a floor general - someone who doesn’t need the ball to score but knows how to make everyone else better. That’s been Paul’s calling card for nearly two decades.
The twist here is that Paul, despite signing with the Clippers in the offseason for what was expected to be a final, storybook run with the franchise, has found himself on the outside looking in. The Clippers removed him from the rotation and asked him to stay away from the team - not exactly the farewell tour he envisioned.
So now, Paul is in limbo. He’s not a free agent, so any team looking to bring him in - including Houston - would need to work out a trade with the Clippers. So far, the market hasn’t exactly been buzzing with interest, but Paul isn’t sitting still.
“I’m working out and training every day,” he said recently. “In all honesty, with the way that stuff went down, for me, I just love this game so much that I don’t want it to end like that.
I’ve enjoyed the time, for sure. I get a chance to go to my kids’ games, but I don’t know what team I hope to finish with.”
Paul’s comments reflect a player who isn’t done - not mentally, not physically. And while there’s speculation he’d prefer to stay close to home in California, Houston does have history with him. He played two seasons there from 2017 to 2019, helping guide the team to deep playoff runs alongside James Harden.
Of course, a reunion would require more than just nostalgia. It would take a trade, and it would require the Rockets front office to believe Paul could still be the steadying force this roster needs.
His numbers with the Clippers this season - 2.9 points, 3.3 assists, and 32 percent shooting - don’t leap off the page, but context matters. He wasn’t playing major minutes, and the situation was far from ideal.
What’s clear is that Paul isn’t ready to walk away. And for a Rockets team trying to solidify its playoff footing in a loaded conference, the idea of bringing in one of the best pure point guards the league has ever seen - even in the twilight of his career - might be worth exploring.
For now, it’s just talk. But if Houston wants a veteran voice to guide its young talent through the grind of the season and into the postseason, Chris Paul might be more than just a name - he could be the missing piece.