FIRST TAKE | Stephen A. claims Kevin Durant to Houston Rockets is biggest bombshell of NBA offseason

FIRST TAKE | Stephen A. claims Kevin Durant to Houston Rockets is biggest bombshell of NBA offseason

In the NBA with the start of free agency, the Rockets made the biggest move of the off seasonason and acquiring Kevin Durant from the Suns. Durant averaged nearly 27 points per game last season, providing the Rockets with scoring and boosting their chances at winning an NBA Finals next season. Plus, the Bucks made a splash of their own this off seasonason when they added Miles Turner from the Pacers on Tuesday to a four-year deal, filling a need at center after they lost Brooke Lopez to the Clippers. However, it was the Orlando Magic that got the chaos started, I know Kevin Clark’s happy about that as they traded for Desmond Bane from the Grizzlies as Orlando look to take the next step and come out of the East next season. So, David, of those three teams that I mentioned of the player acquisitions, which will be the biggest, most I guess impactful, biggest bombshell in the NBA next, biggest bombshell.
Kind of like we’re in love. There we go. Uh Kevin Durant, it’s Kevin Durant cuz he is the only guy in that mix that is going to elevate his team to a legitimate possibility of winning a championship. Now, I like the Desmond Bane move about making the Magic contenders in the East, but in terms of championship level uh abilities, I love the hearts there. That’s like this is great. This is, you know, anyway, so Kevin Durant and what he’s doing to that Houston Rockets team because that was what they needed. they’ve missed a half court score and somebody who when other defenses lock in on them, somebody who can put up 30, 40 points and break down a defense. I think Kevin Durant is the biggest move here because of how high he elevates this team.
Kevin,
I want to start out by addressing the allegations that will come my way that I’m going to land a magic home. I am I think you’ve absolutely like you will never be able to beat these out.
Nope. Wrong, wrong, wrong. No one hates watching Orlando Magic more than me since Dwight Howard got traded in 2012. Okay. No one has had the fact you’ve watched the Orlando Magic since 2012 is why you’re in Orlando.
Try it sometime. Your takes will be better about the Magic. But I I I I promise you I’m as tough a critic as anybody. This Desmond Bane trade not only makes the Magic Eastern Conference contenders. They’re in my mind it makes them the favorite. They’re going to win the Eastern Conference. what this does to the Magic offense in transition as far as catch and shoot three-point shots as far as the creativity and spacing the floor. This changes the dynamic of the entire team. They’ve been trying to get a three-point shooter since JJ Reic left town in 2013. They have not had an offense in the top half of the league. Top half, not top five, not top 10, top half since Dwight Howard left the team. That’s what they’ve been searching for. It happens now. It happens this year. Palo Beno is going to be one of the best players in the NBA. Do we know what France Vardner can do? Desmond Bane changes the franchise.
I I just love Kevin Clark, Orlando Magic homer, coming on here and pitching for the Magic. Look, I think the Magic had a great off seasonason. Getting Desmond Bane is going to help a lot. Let’s see if Paulo and France can improve their shooting because I think that’s going to have to happen. And Jaylen Suggs is going to have to stay healthy for your opinion to come true, which I’m not saying it’s impossible. The East is wide open. I though am going to say Miles Turner going to the Bucks for a couple of reasons. one, if Miles Turner going to the Bucks keeps Jiannis Tedi, that will be the biggest move of this off season because it will take him off the board from going to a Houston or to some other team where he would obviously be a guy who could swing the championship picture. And the other thing is by taking him away from the Indiana Pacers to me it takes the Pacers out of the mix. Obviously, they were out of the mix this year with Tyres Hallebertton hurt, but it really takes the Pacers out of the mix of continuing this run when Hallebertton is back that we saw them go on over the past several weeks. Turner is a critical part of what allowed the Pacers to get to the NBA Finals. Taking them out of the mix for the next couple of years opens up Kevin’s Orlando Magic to me to be a team that could take their place as a team that’s going to be in the top two or three in the East going forward. So, for that reason, I will say for him impacting multiple teams at once and taking Giannis off the board, I’ll go with Miles Turner.
Big if there if Miles Turner is enough to keep Yiannis sentin.
Yeah, if that doesn’t happen, then I’ll be wrong.
Yeah, I’m going to But as of right now,
as of right now, you’re saying you’re right. Well, I’m going with David. I’m saying that we’re right talking about the Houston Rockets. This is a team that won the off season so far. They know what they had to do to contend with the Oklahoma City Thunder. And they what what was the conversation like? I remember we were doing First Take in April right before the playoffs started. Nobody was buying the Rockets as a two seed. They were the inexperienced kids that were going into this just shooting for the moon going against the Golden State Warriors. They have that experience now. They have front court, not only starting level play, they have depth. But Kevin Durant takes this team to a completely different level. You have an elite scorer. Most importantly, you have an elite closer in all of that, which I think is the most important thing that the Houston Rockets did not have in that sevename series against the Golden State Warriors in the first round. And to see him bring himself here, this is this his last stop? Who knows? He’s in his mid to late 30s. Played 17 seasons so far in the NBA. We’ll see if this yields a championship for him after the last five seasons. But on this note, after playing 17 seasons, KD is still going strong. He averaged 27 points last season. Now he’s hoping to take the Houston Rockets to that same level to keep up the same scoring pace. This season, he’s expected to pass Michael Jordan on the all-time scorers list by the end of the 2025 26 season. And KD ranks eighth currently in the NBA’s all-time scoring list with over 30,000 points. He’s the only active player in the top 10 besides LeBron who’s first on that list over 42,000 points. Then you’ve got James Harden ranked 11th, Russell Westbrook at 20th, and then Stephen Curry at 24. Tim, who is the better scorer in the NBA today? I’m giving you four options here. KD, LeBron, James Harden, or Stephen Curry. I mean, this answer is easy to me. Kevin Durant is the greatest scorer in the history of the sport, not just now. And he’s definitely the greatest scorer of those four guys today. He is a seven foot tall player who plays like a guard who can shoot from 30 ft. He’s one of the most, if not the most efficient jump shooter in the history of the league. He’s a metronomic 5040 guy over the course of his career. And when you combine his size, I mean, you see the jump shot here. There’s been nobody ever that we’ve seen can have the combination of skills and ability that Kevin Durant has. I mean, the only thing you could arguably question him over the course of his career is that he didn’t shoot enough cuz he’s been a guy that’s been very content to be somewhere in the like high 20s average topping up around 30 in his career. If he wanted to have a Kobe Bryant 2005 season and score 35 36 points, he could easily do that. But he’s never really pushed himself to be that kind of player. He’d rather operate within the offense and get himself 28 points on 50/40 shooting. It’s why to your point before Courtney is going to be such a great fit in Houston because he’s replacing Jaylen Green who is a wildly inefficient not very good lead score and now they replace him with Kevin Durant. It’s a big part of why the Rockets are going to be a team that is truly a contender this year in the Western Conference. And yeah, I think KD is not only the best of those four scorers right now. I truly think he’s the greatest scorer from his combination of skills that we’ve ever seen in the sport of basketball.
Kevin,
I’m not going to do magic homer and go off menu with palero just just to cut that off. Well, he wasn’t on the list anyway, so I could have done it. I could have not have been qualified.
Uh, I’m going KD here. He’s getting better at some things. Okay, last year was his third highest effective field goal percentage, second best three-point percentage of his career. Everything Tim said is correct, which is a great rebound because the Miles Turner point was so terrible on the last segment, but this I he’s just in some again some cases getting better. He’s going to be part of a championship contender, which I’m not sure you can say for a lot of these guys. He’s going to be at the forefront of the sport next year, even in his advanced stage. I love him.
All right. A few days ago, I did David’s A-list. It was the best list I think we’ve ever had on First Take History. Humble brag. And I had Kevin Durant as the second best scoreer of all time, right? The the accolades, the years and all that. But for this year, one year, Wardell Stephen Curry, what school go to? Davis College. Wardell Stephen Curry is the best scoreer that we have right now. Look at the defense that he is up against on a nightto-ight basis. They are double teaming this dude at half court every time he touches the ball. And yet and still he is a destroyer of defenses. He went up there against that Houston Rockets team which is one of the best defenses in the league which was equipped specifically to stop this dude and were trying to double team him at every minute of that game with a hobble Jimmy Butler and he broke their spirit by the end of that series. He can do that. He does that with every team. The most confounding player to guard in the league since Shaquille O’Neal is Stephen Curry for what he does. When you talk about explosiveness and scoring, he had two 50point games this season. Kevin Durant hasn’t had a 50-point game since 2022. When you talk about a guy who can go off, who can in one quarter of scoring can rip out a team’s heart. It’s Stephen Curry. That is the reason that defenses cannot figure him out. That everybody is in a panic whenever he’s anywhere near crossing half court. That is why you guard the guy 50, 45 feet away from the basket. I have seen more people when they have their defenses keyed in on Kevin Durant, give him a hard time, they have given Steph Curry and his Warriors team around him because he also creates openings for other people just by being on the court all time. We can talk Kevin Durant because again my list was perfect. But but this year it’s Stephen Curry.
Davidson Homer. I mean obvious we’ve been knowing this since around we got we got big homers all across the board here. Stephan Davidson. I didn’t point though. What does Durant like what happens in Houston to get him to the level where you’d be willing to put him over Stephen Curry? Do you think there is something about the makeup of that roster that will help him get back to I guess where you he was two on your list yesterday. Where would he how would he finish two
from this year?
Well, I I think that Kevin Durant will just have to go against some of these defenses that we’ve seen. Like I want to see a series
Mhm.
where you have the Rockets and OKC and that incredible defense where they have dudes who can lock up pretty much anybody. They gave Anthony Edwards trouble. They gave Jokic probably the worst series he’s had in a long time even though he put up big numbers. Kevin Durant has to go out there and be the best scoreer against the OKC team. he has to dominate in the playoffs this year and get them to a championship because I have seen Stephen Curry do that uh with the Warriors team that did not have a lot of offensive weapons where it was Steph Curry Jordan P was number two. It was Wiggins was there too and he went in into Boston in game four and ripped out that team’s heart and put up monster numbers and maybe the best road performance we’ve seen in Boston in the finals. Think about the the history of Boston. I Kevin Durant to do that in the playoffs with the team equipped right now to make a run. That’s where we make the argument. And to what you were saying, Tim, I mean, he’s got to take more shots this year.
Well, I don’t know if he has to take more shots. He just has to beat Kevin Durant. I mean, this is a guy who his his scoring record again is unparalleled. I mean, David has him as the second greatest scorer of all time behind Michael Jordan, but not the best scorer now. It’s a little hard.
Yeah, the math is not really
No, no. It’s if you think about the the we’re talking about the overall, right? The overall years that he’s put in. Yes. When you put the accolades and the numbers, raw numbers and all that stuff, yes, you could put him above Stephen Curry in terms of scoring. But this year, one year, if you gave me one dude to say, “I need you to carry a team offensively and get me to the next level,” I’m putting Steph Curry on that roster.
All right. Well, we got to leave it here because I’ve got an A-list coming up that’s going to absolutely trump the one that you put together yesterday.
Being second this week is not bad.
The hot dog eating contest has become one of the top traditions in America. It’s coming up today. Is it going to make my A-list of the country’s top traditions in sports? Plus, the Eagle [Applause] [Music] Foreign speech. Foreign speech. Foreign speech. Foreign speech. Foreign speech. [Music] My speech. No. Come on. Come on. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat.

FIRST TAKE | Stephen A. claims Kevin Durant to Houston Rockets is biggest bombshell of NBA offseason