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Let me start by stating that I hate legacy talk. I think it’s a mostly made-up thing to fill space and time on content calendars. But it is a thing, like it or not, and with the news of Kevin Durant being traded to the Houston Rockets on Sunday, hours ahead of Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals, the airwaves are going to be playing all the legacy hits for the next few days.
Here goes Durant on his latest in a long line of ring-chasing expeditions!
On the surface, it’s true. Durant is one of the poster players for the NBA’s musical-mercenary era. Since he left Oklahoma City, he hasn’t really felt connected to any one franchise. He’s been a superstar for rent, showing up for a few seasons until the contention cupboard goes bare and he jumps ship somewhere else.
He’s not the only player to do it. He’s just the best player not named LeBron James, who more or less drew up the superteam blueprint that Durant tried to trace in Golden State, Brooklyn and Phoenix. The difference is that LeBron won titles at all three of his stops. Durant, through no fault of his own mind you, has failed spectacularly through a prism of contention since he left the Warriors.
He did win two titles with the Warriors, of course, but in the court of public opinion, even those successes are held against him by many. Going to the Warriors in 2016, the 73-win team that had just eliminated his Thunder, was Durant’s original sin. There is a large contingent of people who will never see him the same.
Durant can say he doesn’t care what people think. Maybe he doesn’t. He shouldn’t, because he’s one of the greatest players to ever live and because nothing that happened in Brooklyn or Phoenix was his fault, unless commanding a salary that limited depth development is going to be held against almost every superstar. The Nets were a mess because of Kyrie Irving, and because injuries popped up for Harden at the worst time, plain and simple. Durant has been awesome everywhere he’s gone.
But Durant is human. And extremely proud and competitive. If you think there isn’t at least a small slice of his basketball brain that wants to prove he can win without Stephen Curry, respectfully, you’re crazy. And through that lens, the Rockets offer all the necessary ingredients to potentially rewrite, or at least make a major edit to, this so-called legacy of his.
1. He’s not joining a superstar
This is key. After latching onto something Curry had already built with Golden State, Durant joined forces with Kyrie Irving and, subsequently, James Harden in Brooklyn, and Devin Booker, and subsequently, Bradley Beal with the Suns. In Houston, he’s the lone superstar. And as such, if the Rockets were to win it all — which is an extremely tall order in the deepest and most equitable competitive landscape in NBA history — he would be in line for the lion’s share of the public credit.
2. Rockets are ready to launch
Despite not having a pre-Durant superstar player on the roster, the Rockets are loaded with talent in the form of, first and foremost, All-Star Alperen Sengun and one of the most uniquely gifted players and perhaps already the best non-Wemby defender in the league in Amen Thompson. The Rockets have an elite coach, an elite defense and now an elite scorer.
To win a ring, you have to put yourself on a team that’s, you know, ring capable. But it can’t be a team that was already ring capable before you got there. That’s what tarnished Durant’s legacy in the first place.
With Houston, Durant joins a team that lost in the first round but is right on the cusp of contention. That makes him the missing piece as an all-time isolation scorer in an offense that likes to isolate (ninth in frequency last season) but wasn’t very good at it (27th in points per possession last season). Perfect scenario for a legacy rewrite.
3. He stays in the West
This is a subtly important part of Durant’s potential to score some legacy points. If he had wound up in the East, those people who are never going to cut him any slack would’ve had a built-in excuse to continue criticizing his easy-way-out maneuvers. But in the West, he remains on murderer’s row.
Any top player, regardless of their team circumstances, who manages to win a title coming through this Western Conference is going to be in line for a serious legacy update. Even LeBron, who has sealed his spot in GOAT discussion, would go to another level if he came through this West. If Durant were to do it, even for the contingent of people who have been intent on hating him since he went to the Warriors, his legacy as not just an all-time great but as an honest 1A player on a championship team would be beyond reproach.
Now, all of this is just conversation, of course. Durant is an all-time great player. From a competitive standpoint, I didn’t like him going to the Warriors. But he’s always said that was a decision that he made not with the intention of baking in a sure championship, but rather as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to grow as a player and function in an entirely different basketball experience.
The guy was 27 years old when he made that move. We forget these guys are human, and how many 27 year olds do you know who have endless money and resources who wouldn’t jump at the chance to try new things and live in new cities? Change is a scary thing for a lot of people who don’t have much wiggle room in life, but when the real risks in life are removed from the equation and everywhere that you show up is just a new party? Please. We’re all hopping around at least a little bit in our 20s if we’re being honest.
So get off the high horse. Durant is incredible, always has been, and he’s going to be incredible in Houston. And as an added bonus, If indeed he cares what the common fan thinks, it’s the perfect opportunity to change some minds at what could be the last stop on one of the most fascinating NBA rides in history.
