How Do the Rockets Match Up with the Thunder Post-Kevin Durant Trade?

During Game 2 of the 2025 NBA Finals, ESPN commentator Richard Jefferson mentioned the Oklahoma City Thunder in the same stratosphere as the Miami Heat, San Antonio Spurs, and Golden State Warriors dynasties of years past. It was a bold claim, but seeing how young and talented the Thunder are, it's not out of the question.

In the modern NBA, the second-apron rules have kept teams from retaining dominant cores. Most recently, the Boston Celtics have gutted nearly half of their starting lineup simply because they were over the apron. With the landscape constantly changing, each championship is up for grabs year by year.

The Houston Rockets are aiming to be next up after trading for Kevin Durant. The Rockets didn't give up the entire core, just Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks, along with the No. 10 pick and five second-rounders, making the deal seem minuscule compared to the star they're getting.

Houston finally has a go-to scorer in Durant, something they were thirsty for this past season, especially in the playoffs. While isolation scoring isn't everything by any stretch, the Rockets didn't have anyone who could be relied on to stop a scoring drought. The defensive success was just assumed to make up for the lack of offense. To a certain extent, it did.

But the 36-year-old is still elite and gives Houston something it hasn't had in a long time. Durant averaged 26.6 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 4.2 assists on 52.7% shooting from the field and 43% from three.

There's still a lot of work to do with the roster, but adding one of the best scorers of all time to a 52-30 team puts the Rockets up there with the Thunder in terms of title contention next season. For context, the season series was split 3-2 in favor of Oklahoma City. Houston isn't far off, and Durant may have pushed the team up far enough to meet the Thunder in the 2026 Western Conference Finals.

Again, there's still a lot of work to do. The Thunder will be celebrating this championship with eyes set on becoming the next NBA dynasty, but Houston appears to be its biggest competition heading into next season, even in a loaded Western Conference.