The Houston Rockets have officially begun the 2026-27 season with their media day on Tuesday. During his media availability, Kevin Durant was asked about keeping everyone happy who is apart of the nucleus of a super team in this era. Like when he was with the Golden State Warriors or during LeBron James' tenure in Miami, Cleveland, Los Angeles, and now in Philly.
"Understanding your roles, and [relying] on Coach to let us know what he needs us to do every night on the floor. Communicating among the team as much as possible. Getting out on the floor and actually getting reps so we can walk through stuff.”
“A lot of stuff adds into that, but mostly it comes from our leader, who is our coach. He sets the plays for us, each player understands who they are, and then we police ourselves from what Coach puts down on the table. We all trust Coach, and any chance we can, we lean on him. It's no different this year."
Later in his press conference, Durant was asked about potentially finishing his career with the Houston Rockets. He was asked about talking to Rafael Stone, the general manager of the team, about wanting to be in Houston.
"I'm not thinking about anything like that. I enjoy coming in to work every day,” shared Durant.
“It's been fun going through the process with everybody, and like I said, I'm taking it a day at a time, man. That's the most I can do. Who knows what'll happen down the line or in the future, but right now, I enjoy showing up for work."
Durant is coming off a knee contusion after a collision with a teammate in practice, which caused him to miss game one of the first round of the 2026 playoffs against the Los Angeles Lakers. He would return for game two, but would then suffer an ankle bone bruise, which would rule him out for the rest of the series. The Rockets would go down 0-3 but were able to rally back to force a game six, but it wasn’t enough to win the series.
"I couldn't play," Durant said (via Rockets reporter Bradeaux). "It was hard for me to run up-and-down the court."
"I don't think basketball can put you in uncomfortable positions," he said. "You're either gonna learn from it or not. I think that the position they were put in the playoffs is exactly what they needed to go through."
This season will be the 20th in Durant's Hall of Fame career; it has really been almost two decades since he wore a Seattle Supersonics Jersey after being drafted as the second pick out of the University of Texas in the 2007 NBA Draft.
“But, thinking back on it, now that I’ve gotten older, you start to realize what that meant to the fans and the people of Seattle,” said Durant.
“It was deeper than just playing for the Sonics,” Durant says. “I kind of had a little family there as well.”
“I was in a good community. I had a nice house. I was settling down there.”
