The Houston Rockets once had legitimate hopes of appearing in playoff games in April. May's NBA draft lottery now appears more consequential.
Ime Udoka's squad enters Sunday five games back of the No. 10 seed in the Western Conference, dropping five of their last seven contests even despite Saturday's impressive win at the Phoenix Suns. The play-in is now a serious long shot, and for the fourth straight year, Rockets fans will pin their hopes of improvement on the ping-pong balls and envelopes in Chicago in the annual draft lottery.
This year's lottery situation for Houston is a bit more complex than prior seasons.