The Houston Rockets’ Kevin Durant once looked as if he was bound to be a top 10 all-time player. But now the question is: Is the 37-year-old still a top 10 player in the league today? With only a few low-profile new Rockets signings to show for the offseason, Houston is certainly hoping so.
Is Rockets’ Kevin Durant Still a Top 10 Player?
In 2025-26, Durant averaged 26.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 0.8 steals, and 0.9 blocks per game. As is customary, he fell just short of another 50-40-90 season with 52.0% from the field, 41.3% from three, and a three-low 87.4% from the free-throw line. In other words, the Slim Reaper remains alive and well.
Moreover, Durant was recognized for his season with a spot on the second-team All-NBA. In theory, that makes him a top ten player by default, especially now that the teams of five are all positionless. However, the 65-game requirement does throw a wrench in things. Or rather, injuries continue to throw a wrench in things, and the 65-game requirement hasn’t done anything to get it out.
Giannis Antetokounmpo, Stephen Curry, Anthony Edwards, Jayson Tatum, and new Philadelphia 76ers teammates: LeBron James and Joel Embiid all fell short of those 65 games by varying degrees (Technically, so did Luka Doncic and Cade Cunningham, but nobody likes a stickler for the rules). Durant was already ninth in voting in 2025-26 with all of those players ineligible.
But it does have to be said that All-NBA voting isn’t always a perfect reflection of the best players in the league. Donovan Mitchell made first-team All-NBA in 2024-25. Cunningham made it in 2025-26. Have either of them realistically ever been top-five players in the league? Absolutely not. But, as is tradition, they benefited from the first seed bump.
The 2025-26 Houston Rockets
Meanwhile, Durant’s Rockets struggled last season, largely due to factors outside of Durant’s control, like, just for instance, their outside shooting. His disappointing All-NBA team vote total reflects the dysfunctional Rockets team dynamic. But forget All-NBA. Is Durant still top 10 according to the stats themselves?
The greatest scorer of his generation, Durant was only 15th in points per game in 2025-26. If scoring is the only thing Durant does and he wasn’t top 10 in that, then it could stand to reason that his top 10 case is looking dicey. But it’s important to remember that Durant’s excellence isn’t just the volume of his scoring. It’s the efficiency of his scoring. Moreover, it’s that he achieves that efficiency with some of the most difficult shots in basketball.
Durant’s signature shot is a contested midrange jumper. That’s a shot that defenses would ordinarily want opponents to take. In Durant’s case, not so much. Making a normally bad shot into a good one is theoretically a game-changing ability. And yet Durant’s offensive impact can sometimes underwhelm.
The Advanced Stats
Advanced stats paint a somewhat mixed view of Durant. He was 18th in play efficiency rating. He was 11th in box plus/minus. He was, however, fourth in win shares, showcasing how efficiently he produced points for Houston and how important those points were to Houston’s victories. Notably, though, Durant’s company in the league’s win share leaders is a mixed bag. MVPs Nikola Jokic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander are there, but so are Jalen Duren and Durant’s own teammates Amen Thompson.
Still, Value Over Replacement Player (VORP) has Durant at seventh as well. Even if the individual metrics produce mixed results, when the same player is turning up somewhere close to the top of every list, it’s only reasonable to give their impact some credence.
What’s perhaps most surprising is that, according to Statmuse, Durant was not among the most doubled players per possession in 2025-26. The reason for this is probably that Houston’s offense was so congested that defenses didn’t have to commit to hard doubles as often as they should have. They could merely sink off of Houston’s various non-shooters and crowd Durant’s driving lines. But what is key to note is that Durant cannot single-handedly generate good team-wide offense the way we’ve come to expect of the league’s best offensive players.
Is Durant Still Top 10?
So, is Durant still top 10? Maybe. The reality is that the NBA doesn’t have a consensus top 10 right now. There’s a changing of the guard happening. LeBron, Durant, and Curry are the old guard in the last stages of being replaced at the top of the game, if they haven’t been already. Younger stars like Embiid and Anthony Davis can still contribute at a top-10 level when they play, but are increasingly unavailable due to injury. Even the newly rehomed Antetokounmpo is hoping the Florida weather puts a spring back in his step, else his injury concerns start to exclude him as well.
“Is Durant still top 10?” might be an easier question to answer after next season, assuming the Rockets can stay healthier. Right now, The Ringer has Durant ranked at 16. The only ranking a lot of players seem to care about, NBA 2K, has him at 13. But is it really accurate for someone like the effectively salary-dumped Jaylen Brown to be over Durant on both lists? And, not to pick on the Ja(y)lens, but is Jalen Brunson actually better, or is he enjoying the aftermath of a fairy tale New York title run?
Durant may well still be a top 10 player in the league. One thing is for certain, though: for him to prove it, at minimum, he’s going to have to top 2025-26.
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