Durant Takes Less to Stay in Houston, and Still Sets an NBA Record

Kevin Durant has agreed to a two-year, $90 million extension with the Houston Rockets that includes a player option for 2027-28, his business partner Rich Kleiman confirmed. The figure is roughly $30 million below Durant’s max, a concession intended to preserve salary-cap flexibility as Houston pushes into title contention.

The deal also nudges Durant into first place on the NBA’s all-time career-earnings list. With the extension added in, his career haul reaches an estimated $598.2 million, moving him past LeBron James ($583.9 million), per multiple outlets citing ESPN’s calculations.

“He understood he’d be sacrificing money,” reported Shams Charania, underscoring the team-first framing of the agreement. Rookie guard Amen Thompson called the move “generous.”

Durant, 37, arrived in Houston in July via a seven-team blockbuster widely described as the most complex trade in league history. Phoenix pivoted into a youth-heavy reset — headlined by Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks — while Houston paired Durant with one of the NBA’s most intriguing young cores.

The Rockets have since doubled down around head coach Ime Udoka, inking extensions for Steven Adams and Jabari Smith Jr., adding Dorian Finney-Smith and Josh Okogie in free agency, and bringing back veterans Jae’Sean Tate, Aaron Holiday and Jeff Green.

Houston also reunited with rim-runner Clint Capela on a team-friendly deal. The cumulative effect: depth, switchable defense and shooting around Durant and All-Star center Alperen Şengün.

Early returns have been encouraging. Houston closed the preseason with a 133–115 win in Atlanta, a showcase for second-year guard Reed Sheppard — and will open the regular season against Durant’s first NBA franchise, the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder.

Oddsmakers have kept Houston in the contender tier since the Durant trade, with prices fluctuating but consensus placing the Rockets among the league’s top five to eight threats.

For Houston, Durant’s discount is both symbolic and practical: a superstar betting on shared sacrifice to keep the roster flexible. For Durant, it’s another line on a résumé that now includes the most lucrative career in NBA history — and a chance to chase one more ring in a city that suddenly feels ready for it