Can Kevin Durant Keep up Healthy Streak for Rockets?

This offseason, the Houston Rockets finally pushed some chips in, opting to trade for an all-time player in Kevin Durant.

In sending out Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks and a draft pick, the Rockets were able to add exactly what they needed on the trade market: offense. At around 6-foot-11, Durant is one of the best scorers the game has ever seen, most recently going for 26.6 points on 53% shooting. Even better, he adds a massive boon on the perimeter, being a career 39% 3-point shooter on five attempts per game.

There’s little question that if Durant is on-court the Rockets will be a better team. But therein lies a question itself: will Durant be able to stay on-court?

Durant is set to turn 37 next month. While his malleable offensive game lends itself well to low-mileage play, he’s still one of the older players in the league with a fairly extensive injury history.

In five seasons since missing an entire year with an Achilles injury, Durant has played in just 55 games per season, bottoming out 35 in 2020-21 with Brooklyn. 

Miraculously though, Durant has been trending upwards since, playing in 75 games for the Suns two seasons ago and 62 last season.

While 60-plus can be a fairly low bar for some, it’s certainly not for a soon-to-be 37-year-old. And should Durant play in 60-plus games for Houston, that’d likely be considered a win. 

It remains to be seen whether Durant will remain healthy for the Rockets — that’s the gamble the team took in adding him for fairly young talent. But with a strong defensive core and an abundance of play-makers rostered, Durant shouldn’t need to do too much to make a positive impact.

Additionally, the Rockets should be primed to be deep enough to rest Durant plenty during the regular season and still maintain a status as one of the better teams in the West. If the two-time champ is able to maintain his healthy streak into next year's postseason, the Rockets could be looked at as one of the top teams to knock off.