Kevin Durant celebrated his 37th birthday on Monday by kicking off his first season as a member of the Houston Rockets. And he quickly made it clear that, if he has his way, it won’t be his last.
Durant, the eighth-leading scorer in NBA history, landed in Houston in a landmark seven-team mega-deal back in June. He’s slated to make $54.7 million for the 2025-26 season, his 18th in the league; he is also slated, at the moment, to reach unrestricted free agency upon its conclusion.
He doesn’t see things working out that way.
“I do see myself signing a contract extension,” Durant told reporters at Houston’s season-opening media-day session Monday.
Durant is eligible to sign a two-year extension that would carry him through the end of the 2027-28 season starting at 35% of the salary cap — a re-up that would top out at $120.4 million, according to projections by Spotrac’s Keith Smith. The former NBA Most Valuable Player, 15-time All-Star and 11-time All-NBA selection can sign that extension at any point between now and June 30, 2026 — meaning he and the Rockets have all season to discuss the particulars of any would-be deal and to see how their partnership develops.
Houston aims to build on its 2024-25 breakthrough by vaulting past 50 wins and a playoff appearance all the way to championship contention — a climb made all the more difficult by the eve-of-camp news that starting point guard Fred VanVleet had torn his right ACL and would likely miss the entire season. Durant, for his part, aims to be the rising tide that lifts all boats — that can get a talented, deep, versatile and young roster back to the NBA Finals, a place the franchise hasn’t been since 1995 and a stage that Durant hasn’t seen since rupturing his Achilles tendon in 2019.
The Rockets landed Durant just before June’s 2025 NBA Draft, when the Suns traded him to Houston in what wound up being a record-setting seven-team deal that sent Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, 2025 draftees Khaman Maluach, Rasheer Fleming and Koby Brea, and a pair of future second-round draft picks to Phoenix. Durant averaged 26.6 points, 6 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.2 blocks in 36.5 minutes per game across 62 appearances for the Suns last season, shooting 52.7% from the field, 43% from 3-point range and 83.9% from the free-throw line.
Only five players in the NBA last season averaged more than 25 points per game on a true shooting percentage (which factors in 2-point, 3-point and free-throw accuracy) of .600 or higher: MVP winner Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, MVP runner-up Nikola Jokić, MVP third-place finisher Giannis Antetokounmpo, All-NBA point guard Jalen Brunson … and Durant, who has now pulled that volume/efficiency double a staggering 14 times. That’s five more such seasons than any other player in NBA history.
For Durant, the move to Houston represented an opportunity to return to the state where he starred for the University of Texas back in 2006-07 and to reconnect with Rockets head coach Ime Udoka, with whom he’d developed a relationship during his tenure with the Brooklyn Nets. Udoka served as an assistant on Steve Nash’s coaching staff during the 2020-21 season.
“I had some connections here within the organization — people I worked with throughout the league already,” Durant said Monday. “It just felt organic and natural coming into the gym, getting to be a Houston Rocket for the first time. I always had respect for this coaching staff, this fanbase, this state, this city. So, it feels right.”
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Durant joins a Rockets team that finished last season tied for 11th in non-garbage-time offensive efficiency — a pretty surprising mark based primarily on the strength of its offensive rebounding, turnover avoidance and transition play. Udoka’s club was just 22nd in half-court scoring and tied for 24th in isolation scoring, though, and struggled mightily to consistently generate good looks against the Warriors in the first round of the 2025 playoffs.
Now, if an opposing defense is able to keep the Rockets’ big men off the offensive boards, avoid giving up points off turnovers and stifle Houston in the half-court, Udoka and Co. will have a trump card to play: toss the ball to one of the greatest scorers in the history of the sport, a 7-foot perpetual mismatch generator, and let the chips fall where they may. The Rockets scored just 0.84 points per possession finished in isolation last season, according to Synergy Sports’ tracking data — just 24th in the NBA in scoring efficiency when their players went 1-on-1. Enter Durant, who was the most efficient isolation scorer in the NBA last season (minimum 75 possessions finished) and who, even as he nears two decades in the league, remains one of the world’s premier answers to nearly any offensive question.
“There’s just not many people in the history of the NBA who have the capacity to do what Kevin’s done throughout his career,” Rockets general manager Rafael Stone said Monday. “It became an opportunity we couldn’t pass up.”
If all goes according to plan — if Durant proves to be the missing piece, if the Rockets look like the bona fide contender they’re projected to be, and if the vibe remains right throughout both the 82-game marathon and subsequent 16-game sprint — it could result in an offer KD can’t refuse.
“I can’t tell you exactly when that’ll happen,” Durant said of signing an extension this season. “But I do see it happening.”
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