Kevin Durant has seen enough basketball eras to know what changes and what doesn’t, and he thinks one of the game’s most overpowering big men would feast in today’s NBA.
On a recent appearance on The Rushmore Podcast, Durant said Shaquille O’Neal would be even more dangerous in the modern game.
“I would think that Shaq would enjoy playing in this era more… I feel like its way more space for Shaq to operate. It’s way more skilled players, so he don’t have to do as much.
Shaq would be getting triple doubles. He would be getting more rebounds, and he would score more points… There’s more shooters, so he could pass out of double teams.
You pass pretty well, big fella, but he was passing to the guys that couldn’t really shoot that well.”
Durant’s point comes from a career that has stretched nearly two decades and given him a front-row seat to the league’s shift toward more three-point shooting and more spacing. The 16-time All-Star is currently averaging 20.8 points per game for the 7-1 Houston Rockets.
O’Neal’s legacy was built most famously in Los Angeles, where he helped the Lakers win three straight NBA championships in the early 2000s. Durant did get a chance to face him, though O’Neal was already past his prime by 2007.
Durant’s own production remains strong after earning All-NBA Second Team honors last season. He averaged 26.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 4.8 assists across 78 games.
Still, Houston’s setup suggests his role may not look the same every night, and there are questions about how that could evolve for the 2026-2027 season. That was on display Monday against the Boston Celtics, when Durant took just six shots in 33 minutes. It was only the fourth time in his NBA career that he finished a game with six or fewer attempts, and his current scoring average sits below his usual level.
With Alperen Sengun, Amen Thompson, Jabari Smith Jr., and Fred VanVleet in the starting lineup, the Rockets can ask Durant to be a high-efficiency weapon rather than the first option every night. That balance has Houston sitting atop the Western Conference standings.
Even if his scoring volume dips a bit, Durant still looks like a major piece for the Rockets. And with plenty of basketball left to play, Houston’s depth gives it a real shot at a deep playoff run.
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