The Houston Rockets’ season might have ended before it even began. Article content

Expectations were justifiably high after Houston finished second in the Western Conference last year, then added Kevin Durant and former starting centre Clint Capela to become the No. 2 betting favourite behind defending NBA champion Oklahoma City. Article content Article content

But while Durant is the club’s best scorer and Alperen Sengun its best overall player, Fred VanVleet is Houston’s heartbeat — its most irreplaceable player — and he just tore his ACL, meaning he likely will miss the entire regular season (or, at best, the vast majority of it).

The former Toronto Raptors star, who will turn 32 in February, suffered the injury in an off-season workout, ESPN first reported .

While ACL tears a

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