2001–02 Houston Rockets season

The 2001–02 NBA season was the 35th season for the Houston Rockets in the National Basketball Association, their 31st season in Houston, Texas, and their 27th and penultimate season at the Compaq Center. In the 2001 NBA draft, the Rockets selected small forward Richard Jefferson from the University of Arizona with the thirteenth overall pick, but soon traded him to the New Jersey Nets in exchange for power forward, and top draft pick Eddie Griffin out of Seton Hall University. During the off-season, the team acquired All-Star forward Glen Rice from the New York Knicks, and re-acquired former Rockets forward Kevin Willis from the Milwaukee Bucks.

In their first season since 1983–84 without All-Star center Hakeem Olajuwon, the Rockets got off to a 7–5 start to the regular season, but then suffered a dreadful 15-game losing streak. Rice only played just 20 games due to a knee injury, and Maurice Taylor missed the entire regular season due to a ruptured Achilles tendon. Due to injuries that hindered their roster for parts of the year, the Rockets played mediocre basketball all season long, losing 15 of their final 18 games, and finishing in fifth place in the Midwest Division with a disappointing 28–54 record.

Team captain Steve Francis averaged 21.6 points, 7.0 rebounds and 6.4 assists per game, and made his first All-Star appearance being selected for the 2002 NBA All-Star Game in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but he only played 57 games, and starting 56 of them due to recurring foot injuries and migraines; he also participated in the NBA Slam Dunk Contest. In addition, Cuttino Mobley led the team in scoring averaging 21.7 points per game, and Griffin was named to the NBA All-Rookie Second Team.

Following the season, Walt Williams signed as a free agent with the Dallas Mavericks, and Willis signed with the San Antonio Spurs.