“I just think it’s an absolute perfect fit,” veteran NBA media personality Zach Lowe says of the recent trade sending Kevin Durant to the Rockets.
Now with The Ringer, longtime NBA media personality Zach Lowe is among many who are optimistic about the fit of All-Star forward Kevin Durant with the 2025-26 Houston Rockets.
The future Hall of Famer was traded to the Rockets earlier this week in a deal sending Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, and draft capital to the Phoenix Suns.
On his latest podcast episode of The Zach Lowe Show, Lowe said:
There’s something about the VanVleet-Durant-Sengun triumvirate that I really like on offense. I feel like it’s just the right mix, for Durant, of guys who can do enough of the creative heavy lifting… but also not so much that he feels relegated to watching another star on his level just dribble all the time.
Fred VanVleet will bend the defense, but he also gets off of it, willingly. Alperen Sengun is a super creative, big-man hub. Durant hasn’t really played with a player like that, in terms of post-ups and drawing attention. They’re both unselfish, and I think he (Durant) benefits them. Particularly Sengun, I think he will benefit from the spacing Durant provides, and having Durant as a kickout option. I just feel like it’s the perfect role for him, in that he gets to do a lot, but not too much, and on terms that makes sense for him.
And defensively, look, he’s 37 (years old), so he’s not the same defender that he was. I do think for the first two months of (last) season, he was defending at a top level for his age and ability, and you just wonder how much of the slippage there was just due to the fatigue and malaise, and the whole Phoenix thing just not working. Now he can offload all of those assignments, or many of them, to Tari Eason, Jabari Smith Jr., and Amen Thompson, and whoever else. They can switch a lot, which can ease the burden of movement. I just think it’s an absolute perfect fit.
The complete episode can be viewed or listened to below. Co-host Rob Mahoney added kind words for the pairing of Durant and Thompson, in particular.
“I don’t know that there are many better fits for Amen Thompson than Kevin Durant, in terms of the spacing and shooting that Durant’s game opens up, and how it accommodates all of the delightful, productive weirdness of Amen Thompson’s game,” Mahoney said. “This is kind of like a dream pairing, as far as who I would want on the floor with Amen to facilitate his development.”
As things stand, Houston’s starting lineup will feature Durant, VanVleet, Thompson, Smith, and Sengun, with Eason, Steven Adams, and Reed Sheppard playing featured roles off the bench. The Rockets are projected by oddsmakers as among the leading championship contenders next season.
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