Newly acquired Houston Rockets forward Kevin Durant turns 37 years old in September, but that doesn’t mean the All-Star and future Hall of Famer is past his prime.
Like his contemporaries, 36-year-old Steph Curry and 40-year-old LeBron James, Durant seems to be aging very gracefully — at least by NBA standards.
In a recent segment skewering teams who weren’t interested in trading for Durant — most notably, the New York Knicks — longtime ESPN host Mike Greenberg laid out the case for Durant still being near the peak of his powers.
It’s pretty convincing. From ESPN’s Get Up:
So, you don’t think Kevin Durant is the player that he used to be? Well, guess what? You are dead wrong. To paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of KD’s demise have been greatly exaggerated.
Let’s start with this. Durant is the only player ever to put together three straight seasons averaging 25 points on 50/40 shooting (50% overall, 40% on 3-pointers). Take one guess as to when he did that. The answer is he’s done it the last three years. That streak is active.
In fact, in the five seasons since he tore his Achilles (in the 2019 NBA Finals), KD has averaged 28 points on 53% shooting and 42% on 3s. He remains what he has always been: a bucket, and maybe the best pure scorer that ever lived.
But there’s so much more to his game. Over the last two seasons, KD has 119 steals and 168 blocks. There are a total of three other players who have amassed as many of both. And Durant has also put the D in KD. There were 209 players last year who were the closest defender on at least 500 shots. KD’s field-goal allowance was ninth out of 209. He’s literally doing everything on the floor.
You’re going to say his team was awful: Not when he was playing, it wasn’t. In the 62 games he played last year, the Suns were 33-29. They went 3-17 in without him. The point of all of this, in case it isn’t clear, is that like his contemporaries — LeBron and Steph — KD has not significantly slowed down. Plus, he’s younger than both of them! Six months younger than Curry and almost four years younger than James.
I heard there are teams like the Knicks who reportedly think they’re better off without this guy. To quote Mark Twain again, get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.
Watch for yourself.
As for Durant and the Rockets, he will officially he introduced as a member of the Rockets in early July. Because the trade involves Jalen Green’s higher 2025-26 salary, it cannot be processed by the league office until the start of the NBA’s new fiscal year in July.
Durant, a former Most Valuable Player (MVP) and two-time champion and NBA Finals MVP, will slide into Houston’s new-look starting lineup alongside Fred VanVleet, Amen Thompson, Alperen Sengun, and Jabari Smith Jr. (likely). The 2025-26 season will begin in October, and the Durant-led Rockets are already among the championship favorites.
This article originally appeared on Rockets Wire: Worried new Rockets star Kevin Durant is in decline? ESPN’s Mike Greenberg pushes back
Reporting by Ben DuBose, Rockets Wire / Rockets Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
