The Houston Rockets spent the early part of the decade rebuilding, and now they’ve got one of the league’s most intriguing young cores in place. Alperen Sengun, Amen Thompson, Reed Sheppard, and Jabari Smith Jr. all head into next season with real upside, and the group gives Houston a foundation most teams would love to have.
But the conversation around the Rockets keeps circling back to Kevin Durant.
At 38, Durant is still the team’s top player, and he backed that up last season with 26.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 4.8 assists across 78 games, good for All-NBA Second Team honors. Even with Sengun and Thompson carrying All-Star potential for 2027, Durant is the one expected to set the tone as the veteran star and the face of a team that went 52-30 before falling in the first round.
That’s where the chemistry talk comes in. On a recent appearance on The Hoop Collective, ESPN’s Tim MacMahon pointed to locker room issues in Houston and put Durant near the center of them.
“There were issues with connectivity in the Rockets locker room… I would say you could even say Kevin Durant was at the top of the list of both of those problems… having to be the primary initiator down the stretch of games, having to be the default leader, the guy most responsible for the mood of the locker room. Those don't play to his strengths. Those do play to Fred VanVleet's strengths and kind of take those burdens off of KD's shoulders this year."
MacMahon’s comments matched the broader belief that Durant was tied to some of the Rockets’ late-game struggles and the team’s locker room connectivity problems.
None of that changes what Durant still brings on the floor. He finished with the fourth-most total points in the league last season, trailing only Luka Doncic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Jaylen Brown. Even if his timeline doesn’t line up perfectly with Sengun and Thompson for the long haul, his scoring gives Houston a real chance to push toward title contention in 2027.
Trade rumors continue to follow Durant, but the Rockets still haven’t seen the full extent of how high he can raise their ceiling. He appeared in 78 regular-season games, then missed most of Houston’s first-round series against the Los Angeles Lakers.
VanVleet’s return should help ease some of the leadership load, and the continued growth of Sengun and Thompson ought to make the roster stronger overall. Short of a disastrous start to the season, Houston is expected to keep Durant at least until next summer. His 2027 player option is still a major question, but moving him before February’s deadline would carry too much risk without a much stronger reason.
In Other News...
Kyrie And KD Reunion Buzz Just Hit A Nerve For Mavericks Fans
Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving have shared plenty of basketball history, and the conversation around them picked up again ahead of an NBA exhibition game between the Rockets and Mavericks. The two former teammates exchanged mutual praise, with Durant singling out Irvings skill set and Irving returning the compliment, a reminder of how naturally their names still travel together whenever one of them is in the spotlight.
For Houston fans, it is mostly background noise attached to a game on the schedule, but it has stirred the kind of chatter that tends to follow Irving wherever he goes. His future has been a topic of speculation, and any reunion talk with Durant tends to get louder fast, even as Irvings current focus remains on Dallas and the season ahead. [Read more 🡒]
Rockets Suddenly Linked To A De'Aaron Fox Move That Changes Everything
The Spurs long-term plan is starting to take shape around their young backcourt, with Dylan Harper and Stephon Castle drawing the kind of internal confidence that suggests San Antonio is already thinking beyond the present. Reports have even gone so far as to describe Harper as the franchises second-best player behind Victor Wembanyama, which is the sort of belief that naturally starts pushing established names toward the trade market.
For Houston, that has created an unexpected watch item around DeAaron Fox, whose fit with the Rockets would be obvious on paper and sudden in practice. A deal of this size would ripple well beyond one roster swap, reshaping the guard picture in San Antonio and putting Houston in the middle of a conversation it did not seem to be having just days ago. [Read more 🡒]
Rockets Lineup Questions Suddenly Get Real Before A Rare Preseason Trip
The Rockets are about to get a very different kind of preseason test, one that stretches well beyond the usual gym in Houston. With the NBA China Games on the calendar, the team is headed to Macau for a pair of exhibition meetings with the Mavericks at The Venetian Arena, a backdrop that turns a routine tune-up into a showcase event with extra attention from NBA TV.
For Ime Udoka, the trip comes with the added bonus of having a deeper group available to sort through the early rotation puzzle. Fred VanVleet, Kevin Durant, Steven Adams and Marcus Smart are expected to be in uniform, giving Houston a chance to see how new combinations might look before the games start to count, while the off-court slate of youth clinics and community appearances adds another layer to a rare international road swing. [Read more 🡒]