Kevin Durant shines in debut with new team on NBA's opening night

The Houston Rockets lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder in overtime on NBA's opening night, but Kevin Durant still managed to shine throughout the entire game for his new team.

Durant was traded to the Rockets in June in exchange for Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, the No.10 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, and five future 2nd-round picks. That's an enormous haul for Houston to give up, but it was undoubtedly worth it for the 15x NBA All-Star and 2x NBA Champ.

In his first game with the Rockets last night, he played 47 minutes and shot 56.3% from the floor for 23 total points. He was able to score from everywhere on the court for HC Ime Udoka and he was also able to gather 9 rebounds to go along with 3 assists.

Though he played the full game on Tuesday night, it'll be interesting to see how often he does that in 2025/2026. He's only been averaging 33-36 minutes per night over the past 5-6 seasons, and he'll be 38 this year. It'll be crazy if he's able to continue playing 40+ minutes per game without losing a step somewhere else.

It's possible that Houston doesn't see him as being a facilitator as much anymore with Amen Thompson playing point guard. If that's the case, then maybe some of the mental load will be taken off of KD's shoulders going forward, allowing him to contribute more minutes as a pure scorer for the Rockets.

It's going to be incredibly hard to stop Houston this season with a starting lineup of Thompson, Durant, Jabari Smith Jr., Alperen Sengun, and Steven Adams. By the way, this is one of the tallest starting lineups in NBA history. They have an average height of over 6'9", and all of them can score.