Durant, Rockets disrespected by NBA schedule release

Durant’s first season with the Rockets featured the team’s return to the holiday slate after over a half-decade since their last appearance in 2019. It resulted in a 119-96 blowout of the Lakers in L.A. For Durant, it extended a streak of playing on Christmas to three straight years, since Phoenix was included during both holidays he spent there.

Throughout KD’s two decades as a pro, Seattle, Oklahoma City, Golden State, Brooklyn, Phoenix and Houston all got a seat at the Christmas day table due in part to his presence. The only time his teams weren’t present before this season came early in his Thunder tenure and in one of his injury-riddled runs with the Nets.

At 52-30, Houston tied Cleveland for the NBA's eighth-best record last season, so their exclusion from early big games can only be taken as a slap in the face. Their consolation prize is a matchup in Austin on Friday, Oct. 23, which will be televised nationally on Amazon Prime. Durant will enjoy returning to the city where he played his one season of college ball at the University of Texas, but this barely softens the blow.

Cleveland has favorite son LeBron James to blame for not being taken into account alongside the NBA's cool kids since Northeast Ohio’s favorite son chose the Philadelphia 76ers in his return to the Eastern Conference. As a result, the Sixers will open the season at the defending champion New York Knicks and visit the L.A. Lakers on Christmas. The Cavs, like the Rockets, weren’t included in the league's top showcases.

The Detroit Pistons, a 60-win team last season, were accommodated with a matinee on Oct. 20. They’ll be the first team to debut, at home no less, against the Boston Celtics. A common joke making the rounds is that may mean Durant will join them before the summer ends. Few in Houston will find that funny.

The Miami Heat, also snubbed by LeBron, returned to the Christmas Day spotlight after a multi-year absence to play the Celtics. James passed on playing in San Francisco. However, the Golden State Warriors were chosen to host the final offering on Dec. 25, welcoming in Nikola Jokic’s Denver Nuggets. They’re another team the Rockets were better than a season ago, so it can be inferred the NBA believes more people want to watch Stephen Curry on Christmas night than Durant.

The Cavs played in the Eastern Conference finals just a few months ago and have household names in the backcourt in James Harden and Donovan Mitchell, so the argument can be made they’re the most disrespected franchise in this schedule release. 

The most disrespected individual? That's unquestionably Durant. He’s joined by former teammates Harden and Russell Westbrook as the lone active MVPs not chosen to play on opening day or Christmas, but he’s second in points among active players, trailing only James. He's a two-time champion, two-time Finals MVP, two-time Olympic Gold medalist and should pass Kobe Bryant, health permitting, for fourth on the all-time scoring list with over 36,000 points.

Harden (29,339 career points) will pass Moses Malone for 10th all-time inside the season's first few months, and he's still over 3,000 points behind Durant and has only reached one Finals. Mitchell is now the face of the franchise in Cleveland, while KD is still the main man in H-town, so being left off the holiday slate is a significant snub.

While the Lakers being in a massive market and Luka Doncic's presence factors into their inclusion, the same can't be said about Minnesota and Denver, who were also included on the Christmas card. Sure, Nikola Jokic and Anthony Edwards are big draws themselves, but neither has had the impact Durant has had on the NBA over the past two decades. Not including the Rockets instead of the Timberwolves and Nuggets is disrespectful and a sign the league isn't expecting much from them this season.

Durant has yet to comment and may downplay the snub, but he's no dummy. Always active on social media and never one to pull punches about what he's thinking, KD will hopefully share his reaction or chime in on a burner account. His most recent tweet was hyping up Shaquille O'Neal as the cover boy on Boardroom, the magazine that's part of the media company he runs alongside buddy Rich Kleiman.

Make no mistake, though. Durant knows he's been slighted. He knows the Rockets have been overlooked. It remains to be seen if it adds fuel to his fire, as blatant disrespect tends to do.