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Why Fred VanVleet isn't playing for Rockets in playoffs after long-term injury originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Houston Rockets are in the playoffs and trying to make some noise.
All Fred VanVleet can do is watch and support from the sideline. He isn't playing right now.
That could come back to hurt a Rockets team that doesn't have much by way of point guard depth.
On the flip side, they spent this season learning how to play without FVV. He's been out a long time.
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Why isn't Fred VanVleet playing in the playoffs?
Fred VanVleet isn't playing because of a brutal injury.
When the Rockets were working out as a team this preseason in the Bahamas, VanVleet tore his right ACL.
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Is Fred VanVleet coming back this season?
At the time of VanVleet's injury, ESPN's Shams Charania wrote that FVV "could miss the entirety of the 2025-26 season."
It doesn't seem at this point like VanVleet will return.
Even a return in late May would've been just eight months from the surgery, which is ahead of pretty much any ACL recovery timeline.
Last season, VanVleet averaged 14.1 points per game in the regular season and upped that to 18.7 points per game in the postseason.
Without him, the Rockets have run a ton of the offense through non-PGs Amen Thompson and Aperen Sengun. The playmaking of those two bigger players will continue to be crucial as the smaller VanVleet stays in street clothes.
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