Bold claim: this season’s playoff race is wide open, and Kevin Durant agrees it’s hard to argue with that.
MIAMI (AP) — After 18 NBA seasons (19 if you count the one missed due to recovering from an Achilles injury), Durant has watched plenty of March-to-April title chases unfold. In many years, there were obvious favorites as the calendar turned to spring. Not this season.
The field feels unsettled, with a real mix of plausible title contenders across both conferences. Durant, now part of a Houston Rockets squad that looks like a legitimate challenger, isn’t lamenting the chaos.
“Thank God for second aprons and the first aprons,” Durant said. That line looks odd now, but it reflects a shift in the league’s financial rules. Under the current collective bargaining agreement, teams face payroll limits that constrain how freely they can move players, which in turn amplifies parity. Durant’s stance isn’t easily disputed.
Detroit (surprisingly) and Oklahoma City (as expected, perhaps) have pulled away a bit at the tops of the Eastern and Western standings. In second place, Boston in the East and San Antonio in the West are surprising on their own terms—Boston without Jayson Tatum for stretches, and San Antonio without a playoff series win since Victor Wembanyama was barely a teenager.
If you asked whether the Pistons, Celtics, Knicks, or Cavaliers might emerge from the East, most would say yes. If you asked whether the Thunder, Spurs, Rockets, Minnesota, or Denver could survive the West’s playoff gauntlet, most would also say yes. And you can add other contenders to both lists.
Durant was asked about the league’s open title race over the weekend, and his eyes lit up.
“We wanted some parity, and I think we’ve got exactly that in the last few years,” he said. “It’s fun for everyone watching the game when you don’t know who will still be standing at the end of the season. For a team, it’s reassuring to know that even if you don’t play your best basketball right now, nobody else is necessarily playing perfectly either. Teams are tinkering with lineups after trades, testing what works, which is a fun time to be in the league.”
Fun. It’s an interesting word given the West’s brutal competitive landscape. Houston sat in third place on Monday, only two losses ahead of the sixth-place Lakers and a slim 3.5 games ahead of seventh-place Phoenix. In this conference, a .600 regular-season pace probably won’t guarantee home-court in Round 1, as has been the pattern for the last couple of seasons.
Is that “fun” really the right descriptor?
Houston coach Ime Udoka offered a reality check: “I don’t know if fun’s the word. You focus on taking care of your business, playing the right way, and getting as healthy as you can heading into the playoffs. In our conference, you can’t afford off nights. It can flip quickly—from 3 to 7.”
The Thunder remain the favorites to win the title, nearly even money at +150 according to Bet MGM Sportsbook, with the Nuggets at +700 and the Spurs at +750. In the East, Cleveland leads the way, followed by Boston and Detroit.
But this era is defined by parity—seven different franchises have claimed titles in the last seven years, a streak never before seen in league history. It’s not crazy to imagine an eighth name joining the list. Durant clearly hopes the Rockets will be next, and plenty of other teams share that belief.
And yes, the playoffs begin next month. The final 20 games will either set up confident momentum or refine what a team believes works best when everything’s on the line.
“We never know who can make a run in the playoffs,” Durant said. “We’re looking forward to using these games to keep improving and growing, and we’ll see what happens.”
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Tim Reynolds, The Associated Press
