Rockets Coach Wants to Decrease Kevin Durant’s Minutes

The Houston Rockets are positioned at the top of the Western Conference standings with a 4-0 record. The Rockets’ All-Star-caliber core features Kevin Durant, Alperen Sengun, and Amen Thompson, which creates an intriguing championship window for the franchise.

At 38 years old, Durant is averaging 23.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 3.5 assists over 35.3 minutes per game. Coming off an All-NBA Second Team selection, he is widely considered to be Houston’s top player at the moment.

However, Houston’s younger stars have shown promise early on. Thompson made a game-winning block against Victor Wembanyama last weekend, while Sengun is averaging 24.5 points per game. Additionally, Jabari Smith Jr. opened up the season with a 30-point performance.

During media availability, Rockets head coach Ime Udoka expressed interest in decreasing  Durant’s minutes.

“We’ve said it. We’d like to shave all the guys’ minutes down… The more we can rest Kevin and not have to rely on him to come back in the game and kind of sustain our offense, I think we're much better equipped to do that this year. So he should come down some. It's hard to take a man off the court because of all the good things he does. But you have Tari, you have Jabari, you have different guys that can do that as well.”

The Case

Based on his age and the fact that he holds a player option for the following season, there may be a sense of added pressure for the franchise to preserve Durant’s impact for when it matters most. Although he appeared in 78 games last season, he was sidelined with an injury during the Rockets’ first-round playoff series with the Los Angeles Lakers.

At the same time, Durant has shown no signs of needing load management for the upcoming months. His absence during the postseason was not something rest could have prevented, as it was a contact injury suffered when he stepped on another player’s foot.

With the Rockets undefeated after Week 1, Udoka might have the luxury of reducing Durant’s workload during blowout leads without compromising the final result. When Houston is in closely contested games, such as against the San Antonio Spurs, there has yet to be a performance-based reason to decrease the 16-time All-Star’s minutes.

Although Durant is one of the Rockets' top players in minutes early on, mid-October serves as a fresh start for the NBA. Once the grind of an 82-game regular season picks up, Udoka may make a slight adjustment to Durant’s playing time with a playoff run in the back of his mind.