Houston was selected in the first round (eleventh overall) by the Detroit Pistons in the 1993 NBA draft, and averaged 8.5 points per game in his rookie year.

In 1996, after his rookie contract expired, Houston signed as a free agent with the New York Knicks, for whom he played for the next nine seasons.

Houston kept his scoring average at 17 points per game, and helped lead the team to the 1999 NBA Finals.

In the fourth quarter, with the Knicks inbounding the ball trailing by one point, Houston caught the inbounds pass, and made a running jumper in the lane with 0.8 second left on the clock to win the game and the series for the Knicks, 78–77, which was then only the second time in NBA playoffs history where a #8 seed had defeated a #1.

[5] Houston's yearly salary of over $20 million made him virtually untradeable, and his injury problems would burden the Knicks.

[citation needed] Knee injuries would eventually force Houston to announce his retirement on October 17, 2005.

The agreement included an amnesty clause provision allowing teams to release one player without his contract counting against the NBA's luxury tax threshold.

Houston was a member of the USA men's national basketball team that won the gold medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia,[12] and the 1999 Tournament of the Americas, in San Juan, Puerto Rico.