The 2021–22 NBA season was the Rockets' 55th season in the National Basketball Association and 51st season in the city of Houston. On August 20, 2021, the NBA announced that the regular season for the league would begin on October 19, 2021, returning to the typical 82-game schedule following the schedule disruptions that resulted from COVID-19. After a woeful 17–55 record compiled in the previous season following the departure of James Harden in a trade to the Brooklyn Nets, the Rockets started a new era by drafting Jalen Green from the G League with the second overall pick in the 2021 NBA draft.