Kevin Durant to Supercharge Houston Rockets’ Offense

On Wednesday night, the Houston Rockets got their first taste of the Kevin Durant experience.

In a preseason bout with the Utah Jazz, the team rolled out their newest superstar in the lineup for the first time. He played alongside Alperen Sengun, Amen Thompson, Jabari Smith Jr. and Reed Sheppard in taking down Utah by 13 points. 

His debut in Rockets’ red was a win on several fronts, none more than the offensive boost he gave the team.

It’s well known that Durant is an individually talented player. He’s won scoring titles, earned 15 All-Star selections through his career, and even won the league MVP award with OKC. He’s proved himself one of the more talented scorers of all time, having scored 27.2 points on 50% shooting across his 17-year career.

That held true in his first appearance for the Rockets, where he added a team-high 20 points in just 23 minutes, shooting 70% overall, 50% from three and perfect from the free throw line. 

But one underlying aspect of the Durant addition for the Rockets will be his gravity, which is sure to help supercharge the Rockets’ offense in general.

This was seen in the team’s first-ever bout with Durant, as they scored 140 points in total, plenty of which came from Durant’s running mates. 

Amen Thompson — the team’s rising star — especially benefited from this, going for 19 points in just 25 minutes on 9-for-15 shooting. He hit his only triple, staying true to his stat-stuffing ways in adding seven rebounds, six assists, two steals and a block.

Alperen Sengun didn’t see the same level of space created for him that Thompson did, but saw a massive play-making boost with Durant on-court. In just 28 minutes, Sengun added 13 points and assists apiece, several of which found Durant.