The Houston Rockets have gotten off to an excellent 5-1 start to the 2026-27 season, and former NBA head coach Sam Mitchell believes there is a move that makes them the best team in the league. During an appearance on SiriusXM NBA Radio, Mitchell heaped praise on Dallas Mavericks star Kyrie Irving and explained why this would be the perfect time for the Rockets to go get him.
“Kyrie is making everybody on that team better,” Mitchell said. “Everybody thought this was going to be a down year for Dallas with a young coach straight from college, with all these young players, transitioning to building this team around Cooper [Flagg]. Nobody knew what Kyrie was going to look like. Man, Kyrie looked better than he did before he got hurt.
“You might can get get two first-round picks for Kyrie now,” Mitchell continued. “And that’s a lot for a 34-year-old injured point guard who missed all of last year with an injury. I’ll tell you right now, the Houston Rockets? You put him on the Houston Rockets [Brian Geltzeiler], with the injuries in the rest of the West? It might be over. They are clearly the best team with Kyrie out there.”
Would Kyrie Irving be a good fit in Houston?
@SamMitchellNBA tells @BGeltzNBA the Rockets would be unstoppable if they traded for the 34 year-old guard.
Listen to the full show:
— SiriusXM NBA Radio (@SiriusXMNBA) October 31, 2026
Many wondered what version of Irving the Mavericks would get in the 2026-27 season. The nine-time All-Star tore his left ACL in March 2025 and proceeded to miss the entire 2025-26 campaign.
There was optimism about a strong comeback when Brooklyn Nets forward Michael Porter Jr. shared how well Irving moved when they worked out in the offseason. We had to see him in game action, though, and he was solid in preseason and at the start of this regular season.
Now, not many were talking about Irving looking better than he did before the injury through his first four regular season games, but that might have changed after the fifth. The 34-year-old put up 35 points (12-19 FG), four rebounds, and nine assists in the Mavericks’ 116-111 win over the Rockets at American Airlines Center on Friday. It was a masterpiece.
Irving’s heroics meant the Mavericks improved to 4-2 and handed the Rockets their first loss of the season. If this were an audition, he passed with flying colors.
The Mavericks had no interest in trading Irving in the summer, but could their stance change now? It’s hard to say. The Miami Heat are monitoring his availability, and he’d be a great addition to that team. Irving is said to be interested in playing for the Heat, too, but the asking price might be too high for them.
The Rockets, though, can offer the Mavericks multiple first-round picks. Irving, averaging 21.4 points, 3.4 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 1.2 steals, and 0.6 blocks per game in 2026-27, would be a huge upgrade at point guard over Fred VanVleet for them.
Now, with how well the Rockets have started, they might not want to upset the apple cart, but some unfortunate injuries have presented them with an opportunity to capitalize on. The Oklahoma City Thunder have seen Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren, and Cason Wallace go down recently.
Williams is likely out for the season, and the Thunder are no longer seen as a near-unstoppable juggernaut. The San Antonio Spurs are the only ones standing between Western Conference teams with title aspirations and the NBA Finals. This might well be the time for the Rockets to go big, and it will be interesting to see if they do.
