The first round series between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Houston Rockets was meant to give us one last epic postseason clash between LeBron James and Kevin Durant, but it wasn’t to be. Injuries meant Durant only played one game, as James powered the Lakers past the Rockets in six.
While we didn’t really get to see that showdown between the two icons, Colin Cowherd said on The Colin Cowherd Podcast that this series was definitive proof that James has always been far better than Durant.
“There was a time years ago, and I think it was when KD was with the Warriors,” Cowherd said. “And there was this narrative because he was winning championships, KD’s better than LeBron. And I always think the truth comes out over the course of time in any profession. The truth comes out.
“And I think the Houston Lakers series was the definitive exclamation point that LeBron’s not only better, but the gap is much bigger than people realize,” Cowherd continued. “… Ryan, on my show, my producer, had a funny line. He said, ‘KD is like buying a boat.’ The first day you have it, and the first day you sell it are the two happiest days.
“It comes in, it’s amazing,” Cowherd added. “You do have great times, but there’s maintenance. You’re left disappointed. Then you get rid of it, and you’re like, ‘Yeah, that was a lot.’ It was fun a couple of times a year.”
There was indeed talk about Durant being better than James during his time with the Golden State Warriors. Durant and the Warriors had beaten James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2017 and 2018 NBA Finals.
Durant was named Finals MVP on both occasions, which is what led to that chatter. Now, while he was amazing in those two series, you have to take into account that he was playing with Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green. Their presence made life on the court easier than ever.
Durant was probably the best player for the Warriors, but James was still better. That’s almost become the universal opinion now. As Cowherd pointed out, the truth comes out over time.
Durant hasn’t even gotten to the Conference Finals since he left the Warriors in 2019. James, meanwhile, won the NBA championship in 2020 and took the Lakers to the Western Conference Finals in 2023. You put these two in comparable situations, and James, who averaged 23.2 points, 8.3 rebounds, 7.2 assists, 1.3 steals, and 0.3 blocks per game against the Rockets, would be the one who’d fare better.
That boat analogy Cowherd brought up perfectly sums up what the Durant experience has been like recently. The Phoenix Suns looked at him as the missing piece that would lead them to a title when they acquired him from the Brooklyn Nets in 2023.
There was a lot of hype about the trade, but the Suns won just one playoff series in Durant’s two and a half seasons. The locker room didn’t come across as a happy place during the end of his time there, and they even tried to ship him out of town before the 2025 trade deadline.
Durant was eventually traded to the Rockets last offseason. Once again, he was seen as the missing piece, but things didn’t go according to plan. Before we even got to the playoffs, the infamous burner account scandal broke out during All-Star weekend. It was alleged that Durant was the one running the X account that was trashing not just his former teammates, but also current ones.
The Rockets brushed it off at the time, but it has now been reported that the situation was a significant distraction and was never resolved internally. A lot of that joy about getting Durant has gone now. It’s looking likelier by the day that he’ll finish his career with just those two championships he won with the Warriors.
