Kevin Durant Watched Extensive Film on Alperen Sengun, Amen Thompson After Rockets Trade

Kevin Durant’s most recent stint with the Phoenix Suns was a bit tumultuous, to put it politely. In three seasons, Durant played for just as many different coaches: Monty Williams, Frank Vogel, and Mike Budenholzer.

For what it’s worth, the Suns parted with Budenholzer prior to the start of the season and hired Jordan Ott (although this season, they’ve been much better than expected).

In Phoenix, Durant only had one legitimate postseason run and even that felt like a disappointment, as people would expect a tandem of Durant and Devin Booker to fare better than a second round exit, which was their best finish (and that was Durant’s first season joining the Suns).

The year after, the Suns were a first-round exit. The year after that, they failed to reach even the play-in tournament.

But those days are long past him, and Durant is literally thousands of miles away.

Well, 1,174 miles, is the exact distance from Phoenix to Houston, where Durant was traded this past offseason.

And Durant and the Houston Rockets seem made for each other. Rockets coach Ime Udoka has prioritized adding veterans (and even proven championship-level players, when possible) for a relatively young team that was mostly built through the NBA Draft.

(Sometimes tanking works. At least if you draft properly).

Durant made sure that his Rockets stint would fare much better than his Suns tenure.

His trainer, Dash Lovell, spoke with long-time insider Mark Medina about Durant’s approach heading into the season.

Immediately after the trade, Durant got in the film room to watch extensive game tape on Amen Thompson and Alperen Sengun, according to Lovell.

“He watched film on where guys like getting the ball. He watched film on his teammates. There was a lot of film study, to be honest with you. There was a lot of film work with trying to get familiar with each player and getting familiar with what they do well and don’t do well. He’s always watched film. But that was one of the films really focused on going into that system to get an understanding and a feel for what they’re doing.”

Lovell noted that Durant also worked on playing out of double teams, in addition to training with Evan Mobley, Chet Holmgren, Darius Garland,Trae Young, Paul George and former Rockets forward Michael Beasley.

He also noted Durant’s overall joy of the game has seemingly returned, as he’s “having fun again”.

The Rockets currently boast the fourth-best record in the Western Conference and Durant appears headed for yet another All-NBA season, with averages of 25.3 points, 4.8 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 50.5 percent, 38.4 percent from deep, 89 percent from the field, 55.4 percent effective shooting and 62 percent true shooting.

On just 17.4 shots (his fewest in five years).