Durant ended his life in the Rockets? Famous reporter showdown: Houston stays a substitute forward first, and renews his contract with a 36-year-old superstar

On September 16, the new season's NBA training camp and preseason are coming. With Alperen Shinkin ending his European Championship journey, it also means that the Rockets' 23-year-old core center will return to Houston to start his fifth NBA season. In the first four years, Shin Kyung and his Rockets kept playing badly in the first two years. In the next two years, Uduka replaced Silas as the head coach of the Rockets, and the Rockets started a winning mode: in the first year, the 11th place in the Western Conference, the 2nd year, that is, last season, the Rockets even won the second place in the Western Conference, but in the playoffs, the Rockets were still defeated and eliminated by the experienced Warriors.

Durant's joining gave the Rockets the confidence to challenge any team on the offensive end. Coupled with Shin Kyung's evolution in the European Championship, he is now one of the best centers in the NBA. Although his abilities are not comparable to superstars like Jokic and Embiid, Shin Kyung is already the top five center in the entire league.

The problem facing the Rockets now is no longer the shortcomings of the lineup, nor the limitations of both offense and defense, but whether they can keep this lineup for a long time. Because Durant's contract has one year left, the Rockets should try their best to keep him and keep him in Houston for a long time.

In addition, another Rockets substitute forward, 24-year-old Tari Ethan, has one more year of contract expiration. He is currently executing his rookie contract, and next season is the last year of his rookie contract. Considering that his teammate Smith Jr. has received a five-year, $122 million contract extension from the Rockets, Ethan will inevitably get a new contract extension. What the Rockets need to do before the preseason is to leave behind two core forwards, Ethan and Durant - Durant represents the current chance to compete for the championship, while Ethan represents the future of the Rockets.

The famous NBA reporter William Galley showed up directly in his article. He said: "All signs have shown that Durant will renew his contract with the Rockets in the next few weeks, so that his future will be firmly tied to the Rockets." If the 36-year-old Durant renews his contract with the Rockets in advance, it means that he will continue to stay with the Rockets in the next 3 to 4 years. When his contract expires, Durant will be over 40 years old, and he is likely to choose to retire at that time.

However, Durant's contract renewal has another premise, that is, the Rockets need to complete Ethan's contract renewal before signing a new contract with Durant. Because in the eyes of many league insiders, Ethan seems to be more important. After all, Ethan is only 24 years old. He represents the future of the Rockets. Although Durant is also very important, his contract renewal is far less important than Tari Ethan.

In this case, the Rockets may renew Ethan first, leave Ethan behind, and then negotiate a new contract with Durant based on the salary space situation. If the two sides can hit it off, Durant will be bound to the Rockets for a long time in the future, and may even retire with the Rockets and live a lifetime of Aerospace City.

In fact, when Durant first joined, Durant's team released news, saying that the Rockets should be the last team Durant played for his career, and here he wants to help the Rockets win the championship and then bid farewell to the league in a perfect way. Once Durant retires, the Rockets still have many opportunities to compete for the championship, leaving Ethan behind and let him partner with core players such as Smith Jr., Amen, Shepard, and Shin Kyung. At that time, the Rockets will still be a championship-level powerhouse.