For all the obvious reasons, the Houston Rockets seem to be “all in” on the 2025-2026 season. You don’t trade away a 23-year-old who was the 2nd pick in the draft and your leading scorer, for a 36-year-old of any caliber, much less one of the greatest scorers of all-time, unless you’re all in. One of the biggest question marks when the Rockets acquired Durant has been, what kind of extension is he going to want, how much, and how soon?

According to ESPN’S Tim MacMahon in the latest episode of the Hoop Collective Podcast, the Rockets are not rushing to offer Durant a max extension.

“The Rockets aren’t gonna go all-in, by all appearances and by what I’ve heard, they’re not going all-in on an extension for Kevin Durant… Now, doesn’t mean it won’t happen, but there’ve been rumblings KD’s not gonna push for the full max. I don’t know that the Rockets are going to put anything on the table that’s close to the max. I think the Rockets are like… it’s not ideal, but I don’t think they’d panic if they go into the season with Kevin Durant just on the contract that he’s on, just on the expiring deal.”

MacMahon, along with his co-hosts Brian Windhorst and Tim Bontemps, all praised Rockets GM Rafael Stone for his handling of the roster and contracts thus-far in his tenure, noting that most of the contracts he has negotiated have been short, and the few long-term deals he has inked (Sengun and Jabari Smith Jr.) have been widely viewed as good value contracts.

“Raphael Stone has done an outstanding job… of understanding the new economic environment the league is in… Teams have to be much better about negotiating every dollar on deals. You look at what the Rockets have done they have done great job.” – Tim Bontemps

When you factor in the way the Rockets have done business, it shouldn’t be surprising that the rumors are they appear to be taking a smart approach to whether or not to give Durant a max extension. My opinion all along has been that the Rockets should not give Durant the max. Whether or not this deal can be viewed as a win for the Rockets largely depends on how small the impact of the deal will have on the franchise’s future. If Kevin Durant knew this coming into H-town and still gave the stamp of approval, then that bodes even better for the Rockets.

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As the hosts of the Hoop Collective point out in this episode, all the Rockets deals so far have been constructed to maximize space in 2027. Fred VanVleet’s deal is up in 2027, Dorian Finny-Smith will be on the non-guaranteed portion if his deal in 2027, Jabari Smith Jr. and Steven Adams’ deals both dip in salary in 2027. What the Rockets have plans for in 2027 would be pure speculation, but I have a hard time believing it’s so they can give a then 38-year-old Kevin Durant max money. The more sensible speculation would be that in 2027, they want to be able to give Amen Thompson the max deal he is projecting to have earned by that point in his career. Either way, a max extension of Durant just doesn’t seem to fit the way the Rockets have been operating, and for that reason I think Rockets fans should be taking MacMahon’s sentiments seriously.