Rockets could grant Kevin Durant his longtime wish with championship run

As the Houston Rockets prepare to enter the 2025-26 NBA season with a revamped offense centered around superstar Kevin Durant, the team stands poised to do something it has not done in a long time: seriously contend for a championship.

For Durant, moreover, this represents an opportunity to finally cement his legacy, going out in favor with an organization and perhaps even spending the final years of his career with an adoring fanbase.

While, through a mixture of circumstance and his own demands, Durant has been seen with mixed opinions throughout his time in the NBA, he now has the opportunity to prove his loyalty to a singular organization and, in the process, make his greatness known one more time.

Kevin Durant might have found a stable home with the Rockets

Durant's career, more than most NBA stars, has been fraught with controversy. After his first nine seasons between the Seattle Supersonics and the Oklahoma City Thunder, the betrayal that fans of that organization felt when he signed with the Golden State Warriors prior to the 2016-17 season has been well-noted.

Moreover, his time in Golden State did not end well either, with tensions rising high between Durant and the coaching staff, and the brutal injury in the Finals that ultimately prefigured his departure to the Brooklyn Nets, for the most part, left a bitter taste in the mouth of Warriors fans.

His time with the Brooklyn Nets, similarly, was rather disastrous. Having assembled a core of Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving, the trio was limited to just a relatively small smattering of games together due to injury and outside circumstances, and Durant was limited to just three playoff series in his time with the organization.

Now, having left the Phoenix Suns largely on bad terms, Durant has made his feelings clear on the circumstances behind the Suns deciding to move on from him: "Initially, I was a little upset because I felt like we built a solid relationship, me and the Phoenix Suns... And to hear that [I was being shopped] from a different party was kind of upsetting, but that’s just the name of the game.”

The Suns, despite the championship potential they possessed during Durant's tenure there, never quite seemed to put it together, ultimately leading to the organization's decision to move on from him.

Although Durant publicly professes to not be concerned with his legacy, it is likely a priority to him, at this stage in his career, to form a genuine relationship with an organization and its fanbase, and Houston, if they are able to extend him well beyond this season, could certainly do so.

Moreover, if Durant is able to help lead this team to a championship, something they have not been able to accomplish in over 30 years, he could finally go out recognized as the hero of an organization.

Durant needs no help in cementing his legacy as one of the greatest players to ever play the game, but finalizing his career as a team player and an integral part of a championship-level organization could change the long-term view on his career forever.