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Kevin Durant was supposed to be the final piece of the Houston Rockets championship puzzle. Instead, KD's Rockets took a step back thanks in part to a toxic environment he helped create. Houston had legitimate excuses for falling short this season. Fred VanVleet's preseason knee injury doomed the team before it even got started. Durant himself missed five of six playoff games, and Steven Adams' season-ending ankle injury was an underrated blow. But it's still no excuse for going out as sad as Houston did to a Lakers team missing Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves for the
most part. VanVleet's absence was especially devastating as it left the Rockets without a true point guard or table setter when half-court offense was already their biggest Achilles' acquired to address. But VanVleet's injury only magnified KD's shortcomings. KD's combination of size, shot creation, and shot making made him one of the best and most terrifying scorers ever. And the Slim Reaper is still an All-NBA caliber star at 37 years old. That should be celebrated. But his playmaking vision and his ability to deal with all the traps, doubles, and extra defensive attention he commands is sub par for a player of his stature if he's not just shooting over top of it. That much was evident in the lone playoff game Durant played for the Rockets.
When JJ Redick's defensive scheme and the short-handed Lakers completely flummoxed him on route to nine turnovers. Durant himself would probably chalk that up to the lack of spacing and self-creators around him more than he would to his own pitiful decision-making with the ball in his hands. And those team factors are certainly part of the equation. But the truth is that Durant just doesn't have the instinct to quarterback an offense the way a rival legend like LeBron James still can. KD's gravity helps teammates, but his actual on-ball work doesn't make them better, and it never has. The most disappointing part has nothing to do with basketball, though. It's how Durant
failed the Rockets as a lead. We don't need to relitigate Durant's latest burner skin. You can check out an entire explainer episode we did about that. And again, some of Get Off My Dickerson's basketball critiques were valid. Alperen Sengun's lack of range and rim protection are tough to overcome. Jabari Smith Jr.'s decision-making and general basketball IQ are problematic. Amen Thompson's shooting woes are holding him back from full-blown stardom. And head coach Ime Udoka's unimaginative playbook isn't helping anyone. Those flaws all reared their ugly heads in the Durant-less Rockets Game 3 meltdown against the Lakers when Houston became just the second team in the 29-year play-by-play era to blow a six-point lead in the final 30 seconds of a
playoff game. It's on those players to figure out their own issues. But you know what doesn't help young players' confidence or create a positive environment for growth? When the legend they all looked up to turns out to be a passive-aggressive, terminally online malcontent who would rather spend his time complaining about them to a bunch of fanboys. Heck, English isn't even Sengun's first language, and he still provided more leadership in a Game 4 pep talk than Durant did all season. Look, the Rockets would have been a bad crunch-time team even without trading for Durant. But KD's presence added to how fragile they seemed and how bad the vibes were. Those vibes and that dysfunction have followed Durant for
years now. KD can't be blamed for all the team turmoil his squads experienced in Golden State, Brooklyn, Phoenix, and Houston. But at what point do we acknowledge that it's not a coincidence, either? There'll be those who say Houston should maximize its window with Durant after trading for him and extending him last summer. I'd argue the Rockets' summer makeover should include finding a taker for KD. Though, I'd also caution his next team to understand exactly what they're getting themselves into. Houston can still use its collection of prospects and picks to make a win-now deal for another star while taking another kick at the can with Sengun and Thompson. Don't get me
wrong, the kids have their limitations, but I'd feel better gambling on their upside than KD's downside at this point. For example, what if Houston could turn Reed Sheppard, Smith Jr., salary filler, and picks into Donovan Mitchell? Tell me this team wouldn't be more balanced and cohesive than the KD-led version. Whatever comes next for the Rockets, they should accept that their KD experiment was a failure. They don't need to blow it up after a toxic season, but they do need a cleanse. Thanks for watching. If you like this video and want to see more content like this, be sure to hit that subscribe button.
