In the first game in front of home fans for Houston’s much-heralded 2021 draft class of four first-round rookies, the Washington Wizards will face off against the Rockets on Tuesday night at Toyota Center.
For Jalen Green, Alperen Sengun, Usman Garuba, and Josh Christopher, it’s their first opportunity to take the court in their new NBA home. Neither team has officially stated a starting lineup, since it’s the preseason opener for both, but recent clues from Houston suggest that veteran Eric Gordon may get the nod around four seemingly established starters in Green, Kevin Porter Jr., Christian Wood, and Daniel Theis.
Regardless of whether it’s Gordon, Jae’Sean Tate, or Danuel House Jr. as the fifth starter, expect head coach Stephen Silas to experiment with all of those options and beyond as he works to find the optimal rotation patterns for the Rockets before an Oct. 20 start to the regular season.
“I want to see them compete,” Silas said of his expectations for Tuesday’s preseason opener. “I want to see them play fast. I want to see them adhere to a lot of the defensive things we’ve been talking about, the schemes and where you need to be on the floor. There will probably be some butterflies and some mistakes that we’ll learn from. It would be good to see a lot of carryover from our practices to the game.”
Here’s when you should tune in to see Tuesday’s game:
- Date: Tuesday, Oct. 5
- Time: 7 p.m. Central
- TV Channel: AT&T SportsNet Southwest
- Live stream: fuboTV in usual Houston markets (watch for free)
Potential starting lineups
Houston Rockets
- Guard: Kevin Porter Jr.
- Guard: Jalen Green
- Guard: Eric Gordon
- Forward: Christian Wood
- Center: Daniel Theis
Washington Wizards
- Guard: Spencer Dinwiddie
- Guard: Bradley Beal
- Forward: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope
- Forward: Kyle Kuzma
- Center: Daniel Gafford
Those potential lineups for both teams, of course, are on the assumption that healthy players for both teams will play — which is far from a given, since it’s the preseason. More information is likely to come to light when Silas and Wizards coach Wes Unseld Jr. meet with the media in shootaround and pregame sessions before Tuesday’s game.
In the case of Washington, the lineup is primarily based on an August analysis of their depth chart by HoopsHype.
Among known issues, Washington is expected to be without Rui Hachimura (personal reasons), Thomas Bryant (knee), and Deni Avdija (ankle). Besides a mutually agreed-upon plan not to play John Wall, the Rockets have yet to indicate any injuries or planned absences.
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