Kevin Durant says the quiet part out loud about the rest of his time with the Rockets

The Houston Rockets are hoping Kevin Durant is an NBA star for a few more years. Durant doesn't sound entirely confident that it will be the case.

Who could blame him? It's (ironically) one of the oldest cliches around the NBA: Father Time is undefeated. Every player ages, and every prime eventually ends.

Some age more gracefully than others. We've seen NBA players look like stars in one season, only to fall short of starting caliber the next. Then, some players are impactful late into their 30s.

There's hope that Durant is one of those players. His combination of height and skill should age well.

One wishes he was confident of the same.

Rockets' Kevin Durant is thinking about his age

"If I'm still me, I'll play"

- Kevin Durant on the 2028 Olympics

If he's what?

It would be easy for Rockets fans to have a knee-jerk reaction to this statement. The Rockets just acquired Durant. Is he questioning whether he'll still be effective in just three summers?

That's fair. Let's stop and think. In three summers, Durant will be 39 going on 40. It's reasonable to assume that he won't be precisely as good as he is now:

Luckily, the Rockets shouldn't need him to be.

Rockets in great position with or without Kevin Durant

Think about the Rockets before the Durant deal. This team was the second seed in the Western Conference. They had one of the best young cores in the NBA and a surplus of draft capital. Where will they be in three years if we exclude Durant from the conversation?

In theory, they'll have one of the best (older, but still young-ish) cores in the NBA, with a surplus of either draft capital or young players they've selected with their draft capital. If they don't have those players, it's because they've finally pulled the trigger on an in-prime superstar. Even after acquiring Durant, the Rockets are positioned to thrive for years to come.

Durant isn't likely to be the Durant we currently know in three summers. That doesn't mean he'll be a bench warmer. As he approaches 40, it wouldn't be a surprise if Durant's points per game dropped closer to 20 a night. His capacity for scoring volume may lessen, but his efficiency is likely to stagnate.

If Alperen Sengun, Amen Thompson, and/or others have "taken the leap", that should be fine. The Rockets acquired Durant with his age in mind. The idea was to bolster their short-term title odds without compromising their long-term window. The situation is fine:

Even aging is a generally difficult thing to accept.