{"id":152272,"date":"2025-07-27T07:00:51","date_gmt":"2025-07-27T11:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=152272"},"modified":"2025-07-26T22:24:22","modified_gmt":"2025-07-27T02:24:22","slug":"ranking-kevin-durant-among-greats-who-played-for-the-rockets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/07\/27\/ranking-kevin-durant-among-greats-who-played-for-the-rockets\/","title":{"rendered":"Ranking Kevin Durant Among Greats Who Played For The Rockets"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kevin Durant<\/a> has yet to play a single game for the Houston Rockets. He is not a Rockets great, and it’s possible he never will be. However, even if his Finals MVPs might not have the glow of some others, he is an NBA great. The Rockets have some big names hanging from the rafters. They’ve also had some big names pass through without leaving a jersey behind. KD might be one of those. But the question is, will he be the biggest?<\/p>\n

Ranking Kevin Durant Among Greats Who Played For The Rockets<\/h2>\n

Number One<\/h3>\n

Well, actually, the question is whether he’ll be the second biggest. Hakeem Olajuwon<\/a> is clearly number one<\/a>. Rockets great, NBA great, it doesn’t matter (shockingly, a single age-39 season with the Toronto Raptors doesn’t significantly alter his legacy), Olajuwon is ahead of KD.<\/p>\n

Such is the congested nature of NBA history that Olajuwon doesn’t always make all-time top ten lists. Titles have a lot to do with that. Nobody else in serious contention for a top-ten spot has fewer than three. But Olajuwon’s two championships definitely have plenty of glow. Olajuwon won Finals MVP in 1994 with no other All-Stars on the roster. The six-seed 1995 Rockets were the lowest-ever seeded<\/a> team to win a championship. Olajuwon is in the Kobe Bryant<\/a> and Tim Duncan<\/a> category: routinely ranked anywhere from top-five to twelfth.<\/p>\n

It’s not unheard of for Durant to be mentioned in that range either. Some people probably even rank Durant ahead of Olajuwon, though certainly not any Rockets fans. A top 10-20 range is generally a more common estimate for him. What that does is put him ahead of a lot of other greats who played for the Rockets.<\/p>\n

The Honourable Mentions<\/h3>\n

Charles Barkley<\/a> and Scottie Pippen<\/a> are two names that come to mind. Opposites in many ways, both players occupy similar spots in the 20-40 range. Pippen was a professional champion. He was vital to all six championships won by Michael Jordan<\/a>‘s Bulls. He was also probably the best defensive wing in NBA history. Barkley, on the other hand, was empty-handed on rings and often left his team short-handed on defense.<\/p>\n

The offensively sensational (and sometimes sensationally offensive) Barkley is a more interesting comparison with Durant because their careers took similar paths. In his prime, Barkley was commonly regarded as the second-best player in the NBA. The only player ahead of him was the formerly-unanimous G.O.A.T., Michael Jordan.<\/p>\n

Likewise, in his prime, Durant was the widely recognized second-best player behind LeBron James<\/a>, the man who puts the \u201cformerly\u201d in Michael Jordan’s \u201cformerly-unanimous G.O.A.T.\u201d status. Both players even tried the same trick to get past their oh-so-brilliant adversaries. They teamed up with the widely recognised third-best players. Durant teamed up with Stephen Curry<\/a>, and Barkley teamed up with Olajuwon. Barkley’s version of the scheme didn’t work because he and Olajuwon were both past their primes. KD got a couple of championships out of it. It may not make KD a bus driver<\/a> in Chuck’s eyes, but it does bump him up in the rankings.<\/p>\n

It bumps him ahead of Rockets great James Harden<\/a>, for instance. Even if KD wins a championship with Houston, it’s extremely unlikely he’d surpass Harden as a Rockets great at this point in his career. Even leaving aside time served, the current version of KD<\/a> just doesn’t warp defenses to the same devastating extent as prime Harden<\/a>. Nonetheless, Durant’s ranking as an NBA<\/em> great surpasses Harden’s considerably.<\/p>\n

Number Two<\/h3>\n

But there’s another Rockets great who has a better case. While the grannyshot maestro<\/a>, Rick Barry<\/a>, deserves mention, ranking him over Durant would be underhanded. Instead, KD’s competition for the number two spot comes from the woefully unheralded Moses Malone<\/a>. Malone was a three-time MVP, an eight-time First Team All-NBA member, a twelve-time All-Star, and a six-time rebounding leader. He was also the 1983 NBA Finals MVP, his first season after leaving the Rockets.<\/p>\n