NBA Analyst Ranks Kevin Durant as a Top Ten Western Conference Player

The NBA's talent pool is at an all-time high, as the league is overflowing with All-Star caliber players. The stars of today range from longtime veterans like LeBron James, to multi-time MVP's like Nikola Jokic and now budding superstars like Victor Wembanyama.

Many of those stars reside in the ultra-competitive Western Conference, which has become a bloodbath of talent in recent seasons. To keep up with the wild west, the Houston Rockets brought in a superstar of their own in the form of 15-time All-Star Kevin Durant.

Despite his old age of 36 –– soon to be 37 –– many still believe that Durant can be a top-tier star in the league and help lead the Rockets to their championship aspirations. But just where exactly among those top tier stars does Durant stand?

NBA.com analyst Shaun Powell believes that Durant is the seventh-best player in the loaded Western Conference.

"As he creeps deeper into his late 30s, Durant can still get buckets on anyone," Powell said. "He may be running out of teams to join, but not running out of time. Durant is capable of getting 30 or 40 points on any given night, without forcing a single shot. His ability to score off the bounce, in mid-range and from deep is why he’s still a No. 1 option. The rest of his game — defense, rebounding, passing — remains respectable for his age. Much like his 2024 Team USA teammates Curry and LeBron James, Durant is playing tricks on the aging process and keeping his performance level high."

To Powell's point, Durant is still one of the best scorers in the association. In 2024-2025, Durant had 21 games of 30-plus points –– tying for 12th most in the league despite missing 20 games. He averaged 26.6 points per game on 52.7 / 43 / 83.9 shooting splits while carrying the Suns offense throughout portions of the season.

With Durant on the floor, the Suns' offense averaged 118.5 points per game, and maintained a 58.8 effective field goal percentage –– ranking in the 96th percentile for the latter. Even in his old age, he's proven capable of leading a great offense, so is his ranking too low?

Powell's full list

1. Nikola Jokic
2. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
3. Anthony Edwards
4. Luka Doncic
5. Stephen Curry
6. Anthony Davis
7. Kevin Durant
8. Kawhi Leonard
9. LeBron James
10. Victor Wembanyama

Durant grouped with his fellow decade-experienced veterans, ranking in between the quartet of Curry, Davis, Leonard and James. An argument can certainly be made for Durant to be above Davis, as Davis hasn't operated as a true first option in quite some time.

What's also of note is the other two Houston stars –– Alperen Sengun and Amen Thompson –– are nowhere to be found on the list. Powell even put together a pseudo-honorable mention paragraph, that didn't mention either Rocket.

"With all due respect to Harden of the LA Clippers, Jalen Williams of the Oklahoma City Thunder, Ja Morant of the Memphis Grizzlies and the Phoenix Suns’ Devin Booker, here are the 10 best Western Conference players heading into next season," Powell said.

It's reasonable that Sengun and Thompson didn't make the top 10, but did they deserve to be included in the honorable mention group? If not this year, they'll certainly be making a case for it during their 2025-2026 campaigns, and will shoot to make the list next season.