The Houston Rockets are hanging by a thread and they’ve been doing it without their biggest name.
Through four games in their first-round series against the Los Angeles Lakers, Houston trails 3–1, narrowly avoiding a sweep with a Game 4 blowout win on Sunday.
Despite some optimism they could still make this interesting, the spotlight remains firmly on Kevin Durant, who hasn’t been there when it’s mattered most.
Durant, 37, has been sidelined with an ankle injury and bone bruise, missing three of four games. His lone appearance came in Game 2, where he scored 23 points but also added nine turnovers in a loss.
Even then, the Lakers’ defense largely neutralized his impact. Meanwhile, Houston’s Game 4 win came without him, fueled by a young core that looked faster, more cohesive, and, maybe most telling, freer.
That contrast is exactly what sparked Kendrick Perkins to light a match on First Take Tuesday, where he flat-out said Durant is no longer a “desirable” asset.
“I believe that Kevin Durant is the greatest scorer to ever touch a basketball,” Perkins said. “But let’s go facts over feelings right now … The Brooklyn Nets, disaster. The Phoenix Suns ran through two or three coaches. Two of them were championship-caliber coaches. A disaster. What did the Phoenix Suns do this year? They made it to the postseason. They were one of the biggest surprises in the NBA.”
“The Houston Rockets last year got to the first round. I believe they pushed the Golden State Warriors as the number two seed to seven games. I believe that the Houston Rockets did give up a guy in Jalen Green that they drafted with the No. 2 pick. They did give up a guy in Dillon Brooks, who’s a culture seller, to get KD and some picks. And all of a sudden, you bring him to the Houston Rockets, and what has been the biggest knock on the Rockets this year? Their chemistry.”
“It’s so bad to the point where people were questioning whether Ime Udoka is still a good coach,” he added.
Durant arrived in Brooklyn in 2019 with championship expectations. What followed was a flurry of coaching changes, off-court drama, and a second-round ceiling before the entire experiment imploded.
Then came the Phoenix Suns. When Durant landed there in 2023, the roster already had a Finals appearance pedigree. Instead of elevating them, the Suns too cycled through multiple coaches and failed to break through as a true contender.
Now Houston.
Before Durant’s arrival, the Rockets were one of the league’s most promising young teams. They pushed a top-seeded Golden State Warriors squad to the brink in last year’s playoffs and were widely viewed as ascending.
Then came the blockbuster move: shipping out young pieces like Jalen Green and veteran tone-setter Dillon Brooks to bring in Durant.
Fast forward to now, and a team that entered the season as a title favorite is one loss away from another first-round exit.
Durant is still under his massive two-year, $90 million extension he signed with Houston back in October 2025, earning superstar money even deep into his late 30s.
But at 37, availability becomes part of the evaluation just as much as ability. And right now, availability is a real concern.
Layer in the fact that he’s now been on three consecutive teams where expectations didn’t match outcomes, paired with recurring questions about team culture and fit, and it’s easy to see why bigger questions are starting to emerge.