ESPN Expert Says Kevin Durant ‘Fired Up’ About Rockets’ Season

The brand-new Kevin Durant era has finally taken its highly anticipated lift-off in the Clutch City.

After years of rebuilding and enduring mediocrity, the Houston Rockets officially achieved a major break from last season's success. As such, this upcoming 2025-26 campaign serves as a much bigger one for the entire franchise to showcase its seriousness to contend for a title by having one of the game's greatest ever.

Acquired from last offseason’s blockbuster trade, Kevin Durant completely takes this deep and highly talented Rockets team to the next level. His all-time scoring ability is set to spearhead the group, and his wealth of experience and pedigree as an NBA superstar will be a commanding presence for the entire Houston to perform at its very best.

The regular season hasn't even started yet, but Durant is amped up already to kickstart his run as a Rocket. In the latest episode of The Hoop Collective Podcast, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst claimed upon his observations that Durant is beyond ecstatic and thrilled to be in Houston to begin the new basketball year.

“Kevin Durant was so excited to be a Rocket,” Windhorst said. “I was sitting in that press conference with Durant on Monday in Houston. I've been around Kevin Durant in a lot of situations—this is his 19th season. I've seen him on a lot of teams, covered him with Team USA, seen him in a lot of uniforms, and seen him when he hasn’t been excited, like in the 2018–19 season with the Warriors, his last year in Golden State. 

“Durant was genuinely excited, despite the overall tenor of disappointment about the Fred VanVleet injury, which I think undercut the Rockets’ momentum regardless of what happens. As I was thinking about and reviewing it on the 15-hour flight out here, he was really fired up about it.”