Heading into his 18th season in the NBA, Kevin Durant will be suiting up for his fifth team in his professional career after being traded by the Phoenix Suns to the Houston Rockets over the summer.
With Durant heading into the twilight of his basketball career with the Rockets, the superstar forward knows the end is inching closer, as he likely doesn’t have many years left to play at a high level. However, he has managed to stay relatively healthy over the past two seasons, playing in a total of 137 regular-season games while still posting impressive numbers. This includes a 2024-25 campaign in which he averaged 26.6 points per game for the Suns.
Durant Knows End Of NBA Career Is Near
Although Durant remains one of the elite scorers in the league, with only five players in the NBA finishing ahead of him in that category last season, he will be turning 37 years old later this month. The future Hall of Famer is fully aware of the miles on his body, as he recently had a telling response about whether he’ll suit up for Team USA again for the 2028 Olympics during a Boardroom event.
“Yeah, if I’m still me,” Durant said at CNBC’s Game Plan 2025 on September 16, via Swish Cultures. “I don’t want the gift of the veteran come sit on the end of the bench and get your fifth.”
Durant is under no illusions that he’ll continue playing basketball at a high level three years from now. He’s definitely realistic when it comes to thinking about the not-too-distant future and the possibility that he might not be the same player anymore. He clearly doesn’t want to be handed any legacy awards down the road, which obviously includes a fifth gold medal.
Team USA could look significantly different in 2028, as there’s a good chance LeBron James and Stephen Curry won’t be leading the way, with Durant potentially being one of, if not the oldest player on the squad. Durant will be on the verge of 40 when the Olympics get underway in Los Angeles, California, in July 2028.
Durant Doesn’t Rule Out Coaching
Many players of Durant’s caliber tend to struggle with the prospect of coaching once their playing days come to an end. They’d much rather lead by example. Superstars often struggle with making the transition, which seems to come naturally to role players, such as some of the great NBA head coaches of the past, with Pat Riley and Phil Jackson being prime examples.
However, it seems that Durant would be open to the prospect of coaching, even though he admits that his desire comes and goes with each passing day.
“Some days I would, some days I wouldn’t,” Durant said about coaching in the future. “It’s tough dealing with personalities. Some days I’m up for it, some days I’m not, but we’ll see.”
With the end of Durant’s career potentially only a few years away, it’ll be interesting to see if he comes around to the idea of coaching down the road or, at the very least, joining a coaching staff in the NBA or elsewhere. Even though the idea of dealing with difficult personalities seems to be what’s holding him back from fully committing to the coaching idea, he definitely appears to have been thinking about it.
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