In a recent guest appearance on the ‘Mind the Game’ podcast, Kevin Durant spoke on countless subjects, including his career, the NBA, and life as a professional athlete. In one particular exchange, he spoke at length on shot selection and explained how he’d rather the ball be in the best player’s hands than to pass it out to someone like Dorian Finney-Smith with the clock winding down.
Steve Nash: “The mid-range has never been more important; it just has to come from the right dudes. The court is spaced now by the role-players, what do you think they’re trying to take away? Threes and layups, so the star has to be able to make mid-range shots or else the team is not gonna be able to score.”
Kevin Durant: “If you can’t find a good shot, we should look for the good shots early. Attack the paint, try to get layups, try to get threes, but when there’s 5-6 seconds left on the clock, give the ball to the best player. And if he shoots a mid-range at that point, he shoots a mid-range, but we’re not gonna waste the clock trying to look for a three, two seconds on the clock, and we’re giving it to Dorian Finney-Smith with two seconds on the clock. That’s not a sustainable offense.”
LOL @KDTrey5 accidentally dissed his new teammate DFS 😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/dr15jIpmAh
— NBALakersReport (@NBALakersReport) July 1, 2025
Of course, Durant was just using Dorian as an example to illustrate his philosophy when it comes to team scoring. Durant always looks for the best shot, and he isn’t like other stars in that he’d rather go iso in the mid-range over passing it off to one of his teammates. Unlike LeBron, Kevin is a shoot-first player, and he believes he’s the best-equipped to get his team a bucket on demand.
Compare that to LeBron James, who likes to look for the open man and the cleanest shot on every possession, and it’s clear how their priorities differ on the court. In the case of Dorian Finney-Smith, Durant said he’s better off watching the play than taking the final shot himself.
What Durant didn’t know at the time was that he’d end up being teammates with Finney-Smith. Days after Kevin’s trade to Houston, Finney-Smith agreed to a deal with the Rockets for four years and $53 million. He and Durant will join Alperen Sengun, Jabari Smith Jr., and Fred VanVleet on a stacked roster.
Funnily enough, it’s going to be Durant working with Dorian Finney-Smith now, and he’ll be making more than a few passes to him on the three-point line, where he made 39.8% of his threes last season. With the Rockets, they intend to compete for a championship and help build their momentum after capturing the second-best seed in the West in 2025.
Next season will be the hardest test yet for Durant, who will be tasked with leading the Rockets to a title at 36 years old. If he plays his game and stays healthy in the process, the sky is the limit for this Rockets team. Of course, their success will also depend on guys like DFS accepting their role and learning to play within the flow of the game.
