As we sit on the precipice of the 2025-2026 NBA season, our Player Preview series continues with the man who has Houston Rockets fans having visions of downtown parades dance in their heads, Kevin Durant.
In a previous preview I stated that Reed Sheppard might be the most important Rockets player this season, as they search for a floor general they can trust in the absence of Fred VanVleet. While I stand by that sentiment, there is no doubt that Kevin Durant will be the most valuable man on the roster. Why so?
If the answer isn’t obvious… HE’S KEVIN DURANT! You know who he is. 30,571 points and counting. Baring something catastrophic, we will witness Durant pass Wilt Chamberlain, Dirk Nowitzki, and Michael Jeffery Jordan in total points scored. Meaning by seasons end, if all goes well, then only four, count them… four NBA players will have scored more points in NBA history, and if that happens, I can certainly guarantee that the Rockets will have won some games along the way.
How many games will they have won? That’s to be determined but Kevin Durant has already shown his value to this team, be it in a short sample size of the pre-season. In the preseason the Rockets averaged 130.8 points-per-game and 27.5 assists per game, which was good enough for 1st and 10th respectively. They shot 37.5 percent from the three-point line, the fourth-best in the preseason. If you think that doesn’t matter, I’ll remind you that the Rockets were 19th out of 30 teams last pre-season and they finished 21st at the end of the year.
While credit must be given to the coaches and the improvement of Alperen Sengun, who looks poised to have another All-Star season, and Amen Thompson is the odds-on favorite to win the Most Improved Player Award at +900, Kevin Durant on the floor changes everything. Alpie won’t see nearly as many double-teams when he’s on the floor with Durant, and with the spacing Durant provides Amen Thompson can have a field day driving down a wide-open lane or collapsing the paint and kicking it out to an open shooter. Even without Fred VanVleet, Kevin Durant’s presence on this team not only makes the players around him better, but it inspires hope for the fans.
Looming heavily over all of that optimism, is the concerns about health. No way to sugar coat it, Kevin Durant has played 70 games or more once in the last five seasons, and he’s only played more than 50 games twice. That has to be a concern. It is for me and for Rockets fans. For the Rockets brass? Well, as I type this article It came across my “X” feed that the Rockets have given Kevin Durant a 2-year $90 million contract extension. Given that he was eligible for a max $120 million extension, I’d say the Rockets played this smart. Even if disaster strikes, the Rockets team building flexibility won’t be completely wiped away, but why even put that Juju out there. It’ll be fine!
If all goes well, for the next two seasons at least the Rockets will be able to count on Kevin Durant’s 25+ points per game, 50-percent shooting from the field, 40- percent shooting from the three-point line, and 85+ percent shooting from the free-throw line. Hopefully, what that will mean is games won, top four playoff positioning, and lots of postseason success. That hope is what makes this the most anticipated NBA season for Rockets fans since the sign-and-trade that brought Chris Paul to Houston. May our fingers stay crossed, and our hamstrings remain stretched in the pursuit of a much happier ending to the Kevin Durant era of Houston Rockets basketball.
Kevin Durant is a two-time champion, two-time NBA Finals MVP, and one of the 75 greatest players to ever pick up a basketball. He has nothing to prove to anyone. However, on October 21st he will witness the franchise that drafted him hang their very first championship banner in the rafters of the house that he, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, and Serge Ibaka built, and he will do so with his former Sonics / Thunder teammate and fellow draft-mate Jeff Green by his side again. What an incredible full circle moment, and my hope is that perhaps that professional pride that has burned in his chest his entire career, is given just enough extra fuel to push him to want to be the one hanging his own banner this time next year in Toyota Center.
