In initial 2025-26 rankings, Rockets have West's easiest schedule

USA Today

2 days ago

The 2025-26 Rockets have the easiest schedule in the Western Conference and the third-easiest among all NBA teams, per Tankathon's initial rankings.
For the most part, NBA schedules are similar from team to team. Each club plays opponents from the other conference twice each (one home, one away) and most same-conference opponents four times (two home, two away).
So, on schedule release days like Thursday, many of the perceived scheduling differences simply come down to logistics factors such as the volume of back-to-backs, as well as extended homestands or road trips.
But aside from logistics, there is one area that can lead to scheduling variance. Because NBA regular seasons are 82 games in length, there are at least four same-conference opponents that teams play only three times, rather than the usual four. For each team, that list rotates each year based on an NBA formula.
(If teams played all 14 of their same-conference opponents four times and all 15 opposite-conference opponents twice, that would lead to an 86-game schedule.)
For the 2025-26 Houston Rockets, the Western Conference opponents they're currently slated to play only three times are the Oklahoma City Thunder, Los Angeles Lakers, Denver Nuggets, Minnesota Timberwolves, Los Angeles Clippers, and Golden State Warriors. Effectively, it's a who's-who list of other West contenders.
As a result, Houston checks in with by far the easiest strength of schedule in the West (No. 28 of 30 NBA teams, overall) in Tankathon's initial rankings for the 2025-26 season. The second- and third-easiest schedules in the West are Oklahoma City (No. 22 overall) and Denver (No. 21).
Generally, the weaker teams in each conference (based on the previous year's standings) have the most difficult schedules, since they don't have the perceived advantage of playing themselves.
It is worth noting that Houston still has two games that will be added to its schedule, as do other teams. In the week of Dec. 9-16, depending on whether the Rockets advance in Emirates NBA Cup 2025 play, Houston will play two additional regular-season games.
Should the Rockets not advance to the knockout rounds of the NBA Cup, those two games would be added from the aforementioned group of six. And if the Rockets do advance, presumably they would be likely to face strong opponents, since those teams will have won all or most of their group-stage games.
Thus, Houston's schedule is likely to get at least a bit more difficult based on its pool of plausible opponents for that Dec. 9-16 week.
But even so, the Rockets will have at least four teams from that list (Thunder, Lakers, Nuggets, Timberwolves, Clippers, Warriors) that they play only three times. And in contrast to many other teams in the West, Houston is guaranteed at least four games versus likely non-playoff teams, such as the Utah Jazz, Portland Trail Blazers, and Sacramento Kings.
In the grand scheme, it's a relatively small gap when considering the totality of 82-game schedules. Yet, in a Western Conference landscape that features numerous strong teams, any advantage or disadvantage could prove meaningful, given the limited separation.
More: Key takeaways as Rockets learn complete 2025-26 season schedule