The Houston Rockets have completed their first signing in free agency as they have landed the former Los Angeles Clippers guard Bogdan Bogdanovic on a one-year deal.
“Free agent Bogdan Bogdanovic has agreed to a one-year deal with the Houston Rockets, sources tell ESPN. Rockets executives recruited Bogdanovic tonight and now land an established, playoff-tested shooter for his 10th NBA season,” wrote senior NBA insider Shams Charania on X.
The 33-year-old veteran guard ended 2025-26 averaging 7.4 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.2 assists while shooting 38.8% from the field and 34.7% from beyond the three-point line in 23 games played.
Bogdanovic now reunites with his former Hawks teammate, Clint Capela, in Houston. He missed the first half and a significant portion of the second half of the 2025-26 season due to rupturing his hamstring at EuroBasket while playing for Serbia and also suffering a hip injury.
Although Bogdanovic has recently been on a slump in terms of three-point shooting, the Rockets are relying on his career 38.1% efficiency from beyond the arc to help them in the postseason, especially since he now has some time to recover from his injury as well.
The Serbian guard will likely come off the bench and will be pivotal during the postseason, where the Rockets struggled in bench scoring against the Lakers in the 2026 playoffs.
In the absence of Fred VanVleet, Reed Sheppard was a common starter, and Tari Eason faced one of the worst three-point shooting slumps of his career last season. So, for scoring from the bench, the Rockets were severely depleted in terms of roster depth.
With Steven Adams and Fred VanVleet expected to be returning fully healthy next season, the bench could use a veteran scorer like Bogdanovic to address this issue.
The Rockets ended up 21st in the league in terms of three-point shooting attempts last season, and eighth in terms of efficiency. So they clearly needed a volume shooter, and Bogdanovic fits the role perfectly.
After Game 4 against the Lakers, when the Rockets finally won their first game in the series that they eventually lost in six games, they had the worst true shooting percentage from the bench in NBA playoff history.
According to the Rockets’ media member Bradeaux, the Rockets’ bench had 35 points combined while going 14-54 from the field (25.9 FG%) and 4-24 from beyond the arc (16.7%).
So the lack of bench scoring could arguably be blamed for the hole that the Rockets dug for themselves against the Lakers in the first round. Hopefully, Bogdanovic’s addition, combined with a healthy roster, helps Houston make a deeper run in the playoffs in 2026-27.
