Rockets Feature Just One Player on USA Today's Top 25 List

At the start of training camp, Houston Rockets center Alperen Sengun downplayed player rankings, when asked specifically about ESPN's Top 100 list. Sengun stated that the Rockets have a bevy of top-ten players up and down the roster.

It's safe to say that USA Today's basketball panel wasn't listening to Sengun, as their list of the top 25 players only featured one Rockets player.

Not even Sengun made the cut.

Just Kevin Durant, which is a given, on any list concocted by any writer or panel of writers.

And he came in ninth. Their synopsis is below:

"Durant finished sixth in the NBA in scoring (26.6) and minutes (36.5) per game while he was a member of the Phoenix Suns, but he missed 20 games last season.

He was also named an All-Star for the 15th time in his professional career. Now with the Rockets, he joins a team that should highlight his silky mid-range jumper with a coach in Ime Udoka who knows how to maximize Durant's unicorn skill set."

Durant just wrapped up his 16th consecutive season with at least 25 points per game and he'll likely do it again in 2025-26. The Rockets need his scoring.

This hasn't exactly been an astounding offense under Ime Udoka. The defense is a much different story.

Durant's shot diet will also be helpful, as he's a professional scorer who can get buckets essentially anywhere on the floor. And he doesn't shy away from the mid-range area of the court, which has become a lost art in the NBA, due to the avalanche of long-range attempts that we've seen.

Durant's playmaking will especially be on display, in light of Fred VanVleet’s season ending injury. However, the future Hall of Famer is a bit underrated in this regard, averaging at or around five assists per contests in eight of his last nine seasons.

Just four seasons ago, he averaged a career-best 6.4 assists per night.

Four years is a long time in sports, but Durant also avenged 4.2 assists last season. He can create for others, if for no other reason than the fact that he's going to draw double teams every night.

He makes the right reads and can get the ball to the open man.

He's also one of the most efficient scorers of his generation, averaging 60 percent true shooting in each of his last 13 seasons. The man isn't slowing down.

Hence his ranking as the ninth-best player in the league here.