The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston, Texas. The Houston Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference. The team plays its home games at the Toyota Center, located in downtown Houston. The Rockets have won two NBA championships and four Western Conference titles. The team was established in 1967 as the San Diego Rockets, an expansion team originally from San Diego. In 1971, the Rockets moved to Houston.

The Rockets won only 15 games in their debut season as a franchise in 1967. In the 1968 NBA Draft, the Rockets won the first overall selection and power forward Elvin Hayes, who would lead the team to its first playoff appearance in its rookie season. The Houston Rockets didn't end a season with a winning record (over .500) for nearly a decade until the 1976-77 season, when they got All-Star Moses Malone. Malone won the NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) award twice while playing for the Houston Rockets and led Houston to the Eastern Conference Finals in his first year with the team. During the 1980-81 season, the Rockets finished the regular season with a record of 40-42. Despite their negative record (below .500), they qualified for the playoffs. Led by Malone, the Rockets surprised the entire league by making their first appearance in the NBA Finals in 1981, becoming the second team in NBA history to reach the NBA Finals with a losing record. They would lose in six games to the Boston Celtics, led by Larry Bird, Robert Parish and future Rockets head coach Kevin McHale. As of 2019, the 1980-81 Rockets are the last team since the 1954-55 Minneapolis Lakers to reach the NBA Finals with a losing record.

In the 1984 NBA Draft, once again with the first overall selection, the Houston Rockets selected center Hakeem Olajuwon, who would become the cornerstone of the most successful period in the history of the franchise. Along with Ralph Sampson, the 7-foot-4, they formed one of the tallest forwards in the NBA. Called the "Twin Towers," they led the team to the 1986 NBA Finals, the second NBA Finals appearance in the history of the franchise, where Houston was defeated again by Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics. The Houston Rockets continued to make the playoffs throughout the 1980s, but failed to advance beyond the first round for several years after a second round defeat by the Seattle SuperSonics in 1987. Rudy Tomjanovich took over as head coach midway through the 1991-92 season, marking the beginning of the most successful period in the franchise's history. Led by Olajuwon, the Houston Rockets dominated the 1993-94 season, set a franchise record with 58 wins and went to the 1994 NBA Finals, the third NBA Finals appearance in the history of the franchise, and won the first franchise championship against Patrick Ewing and the New York Knicks. During the following season, bolstered by another All-Star, Clyde Drexler, the Rockets, in their fourth NBA Finals appearance in the history of the franchise, repeated as champions with a four-game sweep of the Orlando Magic, who were led by a young Shaquille O'Neal and Penny Hardaway. Houston, which finished the season with a 47-35 record and was seeded sixth in the Western Conference during the 1995 playoffs, became the worst-rated team in NBA history to win the title.

The Houston Rockets acquired star striker Charles Barkley in 1996, but the presence of three of the NBA's all-time top 50 players (Olajuwon, Drexler and Barkley) was not enough to propel Houston beyond the Western Conference Finals. Each of the aging trio had left the team for 2001. The Houston Rockets of the early 2000s, led by superstars Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming, followed the trend of a respected regular season followed by a low playoff performance as both players struggled with injuries. After Yao's early retirement in 2011, the Rockets entered a period of rebuilding, dismantling and completely reorganizing their roster. The acquisition of franchise player James Harden in 2012 launched the Rockets back into the championship race in the mid-2010 decade.

Moses Malone, Hakeem Olajuwon and James Harden have been named the NBA's Most Valuable Player while playing for the Houston Rockets, for a total of four MVP awards. The Rockets, under General Manager Daryl Morey, are notable for popularizing the use of advanced statistical analysis (similar to Sabermetrics in baseball) in player acquisitions and play style.