The Houston Rockets remain in a 3-1 hole in their first-round series against the Los Angeles Lakers despite a Game 4 win, leading to question marks on Kevin Durant's future and sparking speculation of a potential return to the Golden State Warriors this offseason.
A Durant return to the Warriors at this point would feel like an acknowledgement that he shouldn't have left the franchise in the first place, or, at the very least, that he shouldn't have blocked a trade back to the team before last year's mid-season deadline.
For a player whose social media activity would suggest his reputation means a lot to him, it feels impossible that Durant would essentially concede these things by returning to Golden State this summer.
Kevin Durant would be admitting regret with return to Warriors
Perhaps Durant does deep down hold some regret for leaving the Warriors to team up with Kyrie Irving at the Brooklyn Nets during the 2019 offseason. However, it's incredibly difficult to see him ever admitting to that publicly, at least not why his career is still ongoing.
Durant's inability to replicate the success he had with the Warriors in the years since departing has begun to somewhat plague his career. After winning two championships, two Finals MVPs and going to the Finals in each of his three years with Golden State, Durant has now won only two playoff series in the past seven years.
The Nets always felt like a strong team on paper, yet the period of Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden failed to deliver anything meaningful. The Phoenix Suns then gave up a significant haul to acquire the superstar forward, but that only resulted in a second-round exit, a first-round exit, and an absence from the playoffs altogether.
Durant joined the Rockets last offseason after rejecting a trade back to the Warriors, yet they're now on the brink of elimination against an injury-hit Lakers team playing without Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves -- albeit Durant has only appeared in one game too due to an ankle sprain.
Kevin Durant won't have any shortage of suitors if he's available again
If Durant truly wants to end his Rockets experience after only one season, he won't have a shortage of options again as a trade target for multiple teams. Sure, his time with the Nets, Suns and now Rockets hasn't been great in terms of team success, but this is still one of the best scorers and players in the league.
It's not as if the Warriors will be his only option, and therefore you have to wonder why he'd effectively admit regret and head back to the franchise when there's other, arguably better situations around the league?
The problem for Durant is that the more teams he heads to and ultimately fails to yield success with, the more blatant it becomes that the Warriors needed him more so than the other way around.
Add us as a preferred source on Google