Kevin Durant is in the perfect role for the first time since leaving the Warriors

The Houston Rockets shocked the world by acquiring Kevin Durant this summer. They may have put him in the perfect role for the first time since he left the Warriors.

In Phoenix, Durant was overtaxed. He was meant to share lead scorer duties with Devin Booker, but he was arguably their best defender as well. The Suns erred by adding Bradley Beal. They tied too much cap to scoring, and didn't leave enough to put the right pieces around their scorers.

That won't be an issue in Houston. Durant will be surrounded by one of the best collections of defenders in the NBA. That'll allow him to focus on what he does best: Score, score, and score some more.

The All-NBA podcast's Tim Legler sees the vision.

NBA analyst loves Durant fit for Rockets

"I'm putting a lot of chips in this Kevin Durant factor, with this team and this fit and this defensive infrastructure around him".

-Tim Legler

Amen Thompson. Tari Eason. Dorian Finney-Smith. Jabari Smith Jr.

This is the best collection of defensive wings Durant has ever played with. Sure, none of these guys are the best defender Durant's ever played with. That's only because he's played with one of the best defenders in NBA history. When Draymond Green was handling the defensive burden, Durant was at his best.

That's fine. Thompson is what, 80% of the way there? Meanwhile, the Warriors did not have the rest of these guys. The Rockets will have Durant take the easiest defensive assignment on most nights so that he can save as much energy as possible for offense.

In fairness, he's going to need it there.

Rockets need a large offensive contribution from Durant

There is another major difference between those Warriors squads and this Rockets team:

There's no Steph Curry in Space City.

Durant's offensive workload may increase next year. He'll be Houston's primary shot maker by a large margin. That doesn't change the fact that this is the best fit he's had since Golden State, but it must be noted.

The Rockets will need Alperen Sengun to regain his prior levels of offensive efficiency. Leaps forward from Amen Thompson and Reed Sheppard would help as well. The Rockets can count on Durant for high-volume, high-efficiency shooting, but he'll still need help.

That said, defense has a way of wearing a player down. The Rockets have solved that problem for Durant. If their young guys can continue to improve, the Rockets will be genuine title contenders in 2025-26:

They may just shock the world (again).