Rockets already have their Kevin Durant cautionary tale for next season

The injury-riddled Houston Rockets fell short in the playoffs against a Los Angeles Lakers team dealing with injury problems of its own. The biggest absence for Houston was future Hall of Famer Kevin Durant.

Durant carried a massive workload during the regular season. He played in 78 games, his most since the 2018-19 season, and logged an eye-popping 2,840 minutes, his most since the 2013-14 season.

It is impossible to know whether that heavy regular-season workload directly caused his body to break down late in the year, but it almost certainly did not help. Durant suffered two playoff injuries: a knee contusion before Game 1 and an ankle bone bruise during Game 2. Those injuries limited him to just one appearance in Houston’s first-round series.

Durant’s late-season injuries should serve as a cautionary tale for the Rockets next season. They cannot rely too heavily on him during the marathon that is the NBA regular season.

Durant’s workload needs to be monitored

The writing was on the wall from the start of the season. Fred VanVleet was going to miss the entire year, and Houston did not have another rotation-level point guard on the roster.

For the Rockets’ offense to survive, they were going to need Durant to take on a herculean role. He was up to the challenge. Durant led all of Houston’s rotation players in points, three-point percentage, free throws, usage percentage, offensive box plus-minus, offensive win shares, and offensive rating. By almost any metric, Durant was Houston’s biggest source of offense by far.

This is nothing new for Durant. He has essentially carried that kind of responsibility for his entire 18-year career, with the possible exception of his Golden State years. However, he has also struggled to stay healthy consistently, averaging only 54.8 games per season in the five years before this one. Now, he is heading into his age-38 season.

More than ever, Durant needs other offensive options to lighten his workload. That does not mean he can no longer be Kevin Durant. When the game is on the line, he should almost certainly be the one taking the final shot. It just means he should not approach this season’s minutes load or offensive burden again.

Help should be on the way

The good news for Durant and Rockets fans is that even if the front office does nothing major this offseason, Durant should still carry less offensive responsibility next season. The biggest reason is a healthy Fred VanVleet.

A steady point guard makes everything easier for an offense. VanVleet will help create cleaner looks for others, which should reduce the number of difficult baskets Durant has to supply.

Houston also has one of the best young cores in the league. Internal development from Alperen Sengun, Amen Thompson, Reed Sheppard, Tari Eason, and Jabari Smith Jr. alone should ease Durant’s burden.

A healthy Rockets team has all the pieces to become a true championship contender led by one of the greatest basketball players of all time. Houston’s top priority next season should be ensuring its top scoring option is healthy when the playoffs arrive.

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