The Rockets officially announced that they have laid off 4 players in a row! The 14+3 lineup for the new season is released. Durant leads the new team to aim for the championship.

On October 19, the Rockets officially announced that they would lay off four players with non-guaranteed training camp contracts. These four players are all likely to go to the Development League and play for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers (the Development League team of the Rockets). They are Vernon Carey II, Ricky Counsell IV, Tyrese Hunter and Cameron Matthews. Durant leads the new team to the championship.

Hunter is a defender with a height of 1.83 meters, and Matthews is a forward with a height of 2.01 meters. Both graduated from the University of Memphis and Mississippi State, respectively, earlier this year and were both undrafted in the NBA draft.

As a senior player last season, Hunter scored 13.7 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.5 steals in 32 games (averaging 34.0 minutes per game). His shooting percentage, three-point shooting percentage and free throw shooting percentage were 41.5%, 40.1% and 77.4% respectively. On the other side, Matthews, as a fifth-year player, averaged 7.1 points, 6.7 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 2.4 steals in 34 games (29.4 minutes per game).

Council has recent NBA experience, having spent the past two seasons with the 76ers, who waived him at the end of July. The 24-year-old wing was originally expected to join the Nets, but the deal ultimately fell through and he ultimately signed a training camp contract with the Rockets on Friday.

Kyrie was a second-round pick in the NBA and has three years of NBA experience. However, he has been absent from the league for two seasons, and his most recent campaign was in the 2023-24 season, playing for the Karhiyaka Basketball Club in Turkey.

The Rockets' regular season lineup seems to have been determined. They currently have 14 guaranteed standard contracts, and all three two-way contract quotas have been filled. Limited by their financial situation - the team's salary has reached the "first wealthy line" and is currently only about $1.25 million below that threshold - the Rockets will not be able to sign their 15th standard contract player until later this season unless they cut expenses through transactions.

The Rockets' 14+3 lineup is as follows -

14 players on standard contracts: Durant, Shen Jing, VanVleet, Adams, Finney-Smith, Jabari Smith Jr., Shepard, Amen Thompson, Capela, Ethan, Jeff Green, Aaron Holiday, Okogie, Tate

3 players on two-way contracts: Crawford, JD Davidson, Harris