Rockets fans will roll their eyes at Durant's comments on Thunder and Spurs

The 2026-27 season is setting itself up to look like one of the most well-rounded years ever. The West is as strong as ever, but the East looks to have some firepower of its own.

Concerning the West, during Media Day in Houston, Kevin Durant was asked how he felt the Houston Rockets match up with the best teams in their conference (Oklahoma City Thunder and the San Antonio Spurs). KD's response fell along the lines of him stating that the focus is on the Rockets as a whole, and they’ll see how they stack up when they play the T.

Durant's answer is in the eye of the beholder

There are a few ways you can dissect this answer: it may come off as a deflection or it may not even be worth talking about - that's how good the Spurs and Thunder are. After all, Durant is a guy in his 20th season who doesn’t worry himself with hypothetical questions until they're close to reality. I think he has a point; we know that to expect from the Thunder and the Spurs, so if this team thinks they improved, we won’t know how they match up until an actual game.

The Thunder and Spurs are both scary squads

This Thunder team is only a season removed from being NBA Champs, so you can’t take them lightly. I always like to cite the 2025 NBA Finals because I attended Game 6 of that series, and while that was arguably the worst game for them that series, they still ultimately got it done the next game. We can also cite injuries for that Pacers squad, but at the end of the day, a proven winner is still a proven winner.

The Spurs played a close series with the Thunder to eventually beat them last season and make the 2026 NBA Finals. Now, yes, that was a rough series for the Spurs that led to a 4-1 series loss to the New York Knicks, but this team has no choice but to bounce back.

The Spurs are good, but New York’s veteran leadership and camaraderie (I chose this word strictly because we listen to Sabrina Carpenter in this household) were light-years ahead of the Spurs' youth and lack of postseason experience together. If Kevin Durant and Houston want to get the jump on these teams, we will need to see a different team than we have.

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