Cade Cunningham Hate Will Not Define Jalen Green — The Rockets’ Could Be Franchise Player Has Bigger Games To Play
This Is One Of the NBA's Best Personal Rivalries Period, But Green Can Win By Becoming a Playoff Killer
BY Chris Baldwin // 01.21.25Young Houston Rockets star Jalen Green is excited about the direction of the franchise. (Photo by F. Carter Smith)
After the Houston Rockets lose to the Detroit Pistons and his anti-BFF Cade Cunningham, guard Jalen Green pulls on a pair of cowboy boots. Spying his getup from across the locker room, Green’s teammate Aaron Holiday offers his fashion assessment. “That looks good,” Holiday says, taking in the classic Texas boots and the blue jeans with colorful patterns on the side.
Green nods, flashes a small grin. Even on a rare off game, when the groggy West Coast-returning Rockets don’t handle the blitzes the Pistons throw at Green well and the athletic guard commits five turnovers, this is a man who understands his place in the universe. The reigning Western Conference Player of the Week may hate to see Cunningham, the player drafted one spot ahead of him at No. 1 in the 2021 NBA Draft, get the best of him in any game, but a January matchup does not decide anything.
Except maybe how deliciously wonderful this rare true NBA rivalry is, something that almost harkens back to 1980s basketball, no pretend handshakes offered. These two want to destroy each other on the basketball court.
“We want to compete against each other,” Cunningham says in an appearance on the NBA On TNT Tuesday night. “They’ve always put us up against each other since high school as far as who’s better. I think we both kinda enjoy to be able to head up against each other and see who’s the best. I don’t think we need any of that (pregame handshakes).
“We both kinda know what it is.”
Green and Cunningham are both playing the best basketball of their young careers. Cunningham boasts the better stats with everything Detroit does revolving around him. Green has the much better team and the path to playoff success. Both should be in San Francisco for the NBA All-Star Game next month.
“His aggressiveness and attack mode,” Rockets coach Ime Udoka says of what’s elevated Green’s game. “And part of their scheme tonight was to slow him down. Obviously due to the way he’s been playing and the hot streak he’s been on. Pretty similar to what he did last year in March.”
These deep Rockets are supposed to be a talented young team without a true go-to player. Jalen Green might just be becoming one before everyone’s eyes. With Amen Thompson, a 6-foot-7 octopus of a player with more skillsets than a Swiss army knife, and playmaking center Alperen Şengün, the Rockets do not need Green to put up 25 points every night. But he did score 26 points or more for eight straight games before the Pistons stumble.

Wednesday night’s home game against the NBA-best 36-6 Cleveland Cavaliers will be a truer test with the Rockets having been bundled up at home for a few days and not having to play early in the afternoon again. Rockets general manager Rafael Stone checks in with a few of his young players in the locker room to make sure they’re set for what turns out to be Houston’s snowiest day since 1973. It’s not a big thing, but it’s a human one. And another sign of a Rockets organization that’s nurtured talents like Jalen Green, who come into the NBA at age 19 off a season with the NBA’s G League Ignite as something of a hoops pioneer.
These deep Rockets are supposed to be a talented young team without a true go-to player. Jalen Green might just be becoming one before everyone’s eyes.
Even before Tilman Fertitta handed Green that three-year $106 million NBA rookie contract extension, this is a family that bought in completely to the confident athletic guard’s potential to morph into a franchise player. He’s not there yet. But he’s on the right track.
“He’s been plying great,” Amen Thompson says of his teammate. “They’re throwing a lot at him. We’ve got to do better trying to help him in those situations like (against the Pistons). But I mean, he’s been great.”
Prove-It Moments
How Green handles Cleveland’s defense and what Kenny Atkinson throws at the Rockets will be another small test on the journey. Since the Rockets lost to Oklahoma City in Las Vegas in that high-profile NBA Cup semifinal game with Green held to 12 point and one for eight shooting from three, he is averaging 25.7 points per game. The Cavs will be the toughest defense Green’s faced since Oklahoma City.
“His aggressiveness and attack mode.” — Rockets coach Ime Udoka on Jalen Green’s recent spree.
Every prove-it moment matters, even if no single one is decisive. The Pistons did to the Rockets what the Rockets need to do to the Cavs.
“It was a statement game for us,” Pistons guard Malik Beasley says.
These Pistons are just learning how to win, putting the depressing doldrums of winning only 14 games all last season behind them.
“It’s a big difference,” University of Houston star turned key Detroit reserve Marcus Sasser tells PaperCity. “It’s fun. It’s more competitive playing for something. It’s a way better vibe than last season for sure.”
The Rockets are far ahead of the Pistons on the developmental path, the second best team in the power packed West, ahead of Ja Morant and the Grizzles and the incomparable Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets. But that comes with more responsibility too. That includes fighting to avoid the schedule losses that seem built into the NBA calendar. The Rockets cannot do that against the Pistons.
“We didn’t come to play,” point guard Fred VanVleet says. “As a team. As a group. We didn’t come to play. They did and they came out and punched us in the mouth.”
VanVleet understands the real deal, knows when he sees one. Having spent the first seven seasons of his NBA career in Toronto (not to mention growing up in Illinois and spending four winters at Wichita State), he knows what a true snowstorm is too.
“This is great weather,” VanVleet says.
The rare Houston snow storm largely turns into a fun time for most Houstonians. This should be a fun time for Jalen Green too. Yes, the California product can pull off cowboy boots. This is man who’s found his way. No matter what Cade Cunningham thinks. Jalen Green should expect to be playing deep into May.
That’s the time for him to make his case.