Jalen Green just missed out on an incredible opportunity with the Rockets

Few players generated as much excitement as Jalen Green at the Phoenix Suns' 2025-26 media day, and with good reason. The 23-year-old was the best player the franchise got back in the Kevin Durant trade this offseason, although Dillon Brooks might have something to say about that by the end of this coming season.

Elite offensive talent is hard to come by in the league, and Green has the ability to go off for 30 on any given night. There is a case to be made that perhaps this doesn't always happen in the most efficient manner, and talk of him not being a winning player given the willingness of the Houston Rockets to send him packing has also persisted.

Green had chance to run show in Houston after latest injury news.

Just as intriguing as the obvious talent that Green has is just how he and Devin Booker will co-exist in The Valley, with both appearing open to spending time as the de facto point guard. We know from previous experience that this likely won't work though, and it is not the best use of either of their talents.

The Rockets recently received some devastating injury news of their own before the season has even begun, with point guard Fred VanVleet going down with a torn ACL. The 31-year-old was the perfect floor general for a roster featuring Durant, Alperen Sengun and Amen Thompson, with his undersized frame being hidden perfectly by those teammates.

On the other end of the court he would have brought order and stability - and had Green still been with the Rockets - that opportunity would surely have gone to him in the wake of this injury. He has had small doses of being the lead ball-handler in the past, but this would have been the chance to truly show what he could do.

Unlike trying to make it work next to Booker, Green would have had a far more balanced and ready to win now group around him, which would have been fascinating to watch develop. You don't put 38 on the Golden State Warriors in a playoff game without having something about you, but Green the playmaker and provider is not something we've seen terribly often throughout his career so far.

We'll never know what that could have looked like, and instead it is the Suns who may get the last laugh here. Green could hit the ground running as a floor general in The Valley, which in turn would allow Booker to do his thing off the ball. That's an optimistic way of looking at this coming season - but just when the Rockets could have done with Green to fill in - they let him go.