Kevin Durant has rare opportunity to earn elite status in Rockets history

A few weeks ago, a trade sending Kevin Durant to the Rockets was announced. The Rockets' acquisition of the all-time great justifiably led to excitement amongst fans while also putting the rest of the league on notice. As the Rockets have seemingly emerged as contenders, a certain facet of this trade has gone under the radar.

That would be the fact that Durant is a competitor for being the best player the Rockets have ever had. When considering who has had the best career with the Rockets, he'll fall short of this title since he will spend minimal time with the Rockets comparatively. However, purely as a basketball talent, KD definitely deserves a seat at the table in the "best to wear a Rockets jersey" conversations.

As in any GOAT debate, there are a multitude of factors one must consider. I'll be using factors such as longevity, stats, individual accolades, playoffs stats, and championships to see how Durant fares against common candidates like Charles Barkley, James Harden, Moses Malone, and Hakeem Olajuwon.

How Does Durant Compare to Barkley and Harden?

In the cases of Barkley and Harden, one thing in particular sticks out: the fact that they both lack silverware. KD has them both convincingly beat in that category as he has accumulated two rings and two Finals MVPs. But still, as the common LeBron vs MJ debate has shown, the number of rings one player has isn't the "end all be all" of the debate. The context behind these losses and victories should matter.

It could be argued that Durant's two rings with the Warriors had minimal adversity. In both 2017 and 2018, a seeming juggernaut Warriors squad greatly benefited from their most formidable opponents suffering untimely injuries (from Kawhi Leonard in 2017 to Chris Paul in 2018). Harden's Rockets were on the other end of this and an abysmally refereed Game 7. In juxtaposition to KD's commonly labeled "cakewalk" runs, Barkley's singular finals loss came at the hands of Michael Jordan's domineering Bulls.

Despite MJ averaging an absurd 41 ppg and 8.3 rpg on 50 FG%, Chuck's Suns were able to take the series to a competitive six games largely because of his play. He averaged an excellent 27.3 ppg, 13.0 rpg, and 5.5 apg for the series.

Even with the Finals record of the three not being the "end all be all" of the debate, there are other reasons Harden and Barkley are not in the same realm as Durant.

With Harden, the matter is fairly simple. He has garnered an understandable reputation as a big "playoff dropper". Throughout the years, he has mustered up a near discography of elimination game stinkers. When comparing him to an upper echelon playoff performer such as Durant, he falters.

Barkley, while not an unadulterated playoff dropper like Harden, is not quite on KD's level on the big stage. Throughout his career, he averaged 23.0 ppg, 12.9 rpg, and 3.9 apg on 51.3 FG% in the playoffs while Durant has averaged 29.3 ppg, 7.8 rpg, and 4.2 apg on 47.7 FG%. There's also a notable gap in terms of their regular season performance and longevity.

How Does Durant Compare To Malone?

Another common candidate for the best player to wear a Rockets jersey is the reputable board man and late great Moses Malone. Unlike Harden and Barkley, Malone won a ring and also a Finals MVP. He posted borderline 2k averages (25.8 ppg and 18.0 rpg) in his 1983 Finals sweep against the "Showtime Lakers."

In fact, Malone won more MVP awards in his career than Durant has, winning three compared to Durant's singular MVP. What makes this feat even more impressive is that Malone did this against the likes of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who is the all-time MVP leader.

Despite this one metric, it's still fairly safe to place KD above Malone. Once again, Durant's career averages are observably better with him averaging 27.2 ppg and 7.0 rpg on 50.2 FG% compared to Malone's 20.6 ppg and 12.2 rpg on 49.1 FG%.

But beyond just the statistical gap, what elevates Durant more than anything else is that he's been LeBron's most worthy adversary. The fact that Durant has hung with the commonly claimed "GOAT" in their matchups better than anyone else (even Stephen Curry) and for almost two decades at that just puts him a considerable notch above Malone. While still an all-time great, Malone wasn't at the helm to the extent KD was: a consistent top 2 player in his prime and still in elite conversations nearly two decades into his career.

How Does Durant Compare to Hakeem?

Things get a little bit more tricky when comparing Durant to Hakeem Olajuwon,who is almost universally accepted as the best to ever wear a Rockets' jersey. For starters, the two have the same amount of championships, Finals MVPs, and MVPs. With that being said, Hakeem's rings are far more respectable and impressive.

In 1994, Hakeem beat a fierce and actually competitive Knicks team(especially compared to the Cavs) in a 7 game series to cap off his "perfect season." Then, in 1995, he had one of the most highly regarded playoff runs ever where he averaged 33.0 ppg, 10.3 rpg, 4.5 apg, 1.2 spg, and 2.8 bpg. In this run, Hakeem led the 6th seed Rockets in a historic 3-1 comeback against the Suns before manually adding a asterisk to David Robinson's MVP and then making light work of Shaq's Magic in the Finals.

Hakeem's success in 1995 is even more monumental when considering that he won the sole non-MJ ring between 1991 and 1998 in seasons Jordan played. The Magic team which Hakeem's Rockets swept had convincingly beat Jordan's Bulls earlier in the same run. Hakeem's championships were so impressive that people even claim that Jordan was lucky to not meet him in the finals.

Compared to KD, Hakeem is also a far better two-way player. It's no secret that Hakeem is one of the best defenders of all-time, winning two DPOY awards and being named to the all-defensive team nine times. But somehow, these accolades still don't do enough justice to just how good a rim protector The Dream was. He is widely hailed as one of if not the best shot blockers of all time, having averaged 3.1 blocks per game and being the NBA's all-time block leader by a wide margin.

When statistically comparing both KD and Hakeem, the victor is not as clear-cut as with Barkley or Malone. Durant has a considerable lead as a scorer and a shooter, while Hakeem has the same lead in terms of rebounding, inside scoring, and in defensive categories. In terms of all-NBA teams Hakeem has made twelve compared to Durant's eleven with both making the first team six times.

As with every previous player he's been compared to, KD's longevity is levels beyond Hakeem's. Having averaged 25 ppg for seventeen straight years, Durant only definitively falls short of LeBron in the longevity category.

The Final Verdict

From Hakeem having similar accolades, arguably the best individual playoff run between the two (in 1994-95) and the more impressive championship repeat, he's still the best to ever wear a Rockets jersey. However, Durant is not that far off and definitely deserves to be mentioned in these talks

With a ring in Houston, Durant could very well become the greatest player to ever lace up for the Rockets.