Kevin Durant understands why the Houston Rockets want to manage his workload.
That does not mean he agrees with the premise.
With training camp approaching, Rockets coach Ime Udoka repeatedly discussed during media day about lowering Durant’s minutes after a season in which the 37-year-old carried one of the heaviest workloads in the NBA and then saw his postseason derailed by injuries.
Durant’s response was unmistakable.
“Why? Durant asked. “I’m better on the court. The team is better when I’m on the court.”
That is the tension Houston will have to manage this season: protecting an aging superstar without treating him like one.
Durant Not Interested in Arbitrary Minutes Limit
Durant played 78 games last season and averaged 36.4 minutes, the second-highest total workload in the league at 2,840 minutes. He still produced at an elite level, averaging 26 points, 5.5 rebounds and 4.8 assists while shooting 52% from the field and 41.3% from 3-point range. He was named to the All-NBA Second Team.
The problem came in April.
Durant missed Game 1 of Houston’s first-round series against the Lakers because of a bruised right knee. He returned for Game 2 and scored 23 points in 41 minutes, then sprained his left ankle late in the loss. He never played again in the series.
Asked how close he came to returning, Durant was blunt.
“I couldn’t play,” Durant said. “It was hard for me to run up and down the court.”
Those injuries, Durant stressed, were not the result of fatigue. He described them as contact injuries — stepping on another player’s foot and colliding with a teammate’s knee.
That distinction matters to him.
Rockets Want Durant Fresher for Playoffs
Durant said the organization has delivered some version of the minutes-management message to him for years.
He is willing to sit late if Houston has already put a game away.
What he does not want is a predetermined reduction simply because of his age or previous workload.
“If we handle our business the first three quarters, then maybe,” Durant said. “But just for the sake of sacrificing my minutes just because, ‘Oh, he’s older,’ or he played a lot of minutes — that’s what I’m supposed to be training for.”
Then came the clearest statement of all:
“If the game needs me to be out there, I want to be out there.”
That leaves Udoka with a delicate balance.
Houston now has Fred VanVleet back healthy, Steven Adams available again and Marcus Smart added to a veteran group around Durant. More depth should give Udoka opportunities to shave minutes organically rather than impose a hard cap.
Durant appears open to that kind of approach.
He just does not want his birth certificate making the decision for him.
After watching Houston’s playoff run end while he was unable to help, Durant’s preference is simple: If the Rockets need him, he wants to play.
Kevin Durant Questions Rockets’ Plan After Injury-Riddled Playoffs