Armed to the teeth! Congratulations to Durant, the Rockets have another defensive player, and it is difficult for the Thunder to defend their title

In the regular season of the 2024-2025 season, the Houston Rockets performed at 1.149 points per leg, ranking 12th in the NBA league. However, in the playoffs, the Rockets' offensive efficiency suddenly declined, dropping to the third-last 16 teams, 1.115 points per round. This significant lack of offensive firepower has become one of the key factors for the Rockets to be eliminated when they encounter the "Black Seven" against the Warriors. Obviously, the lack of stable and efficient scorers at critical moments has caused the team to be disadvantaged in high-intensity games.

In order to make up for this offensive shortcomings, the Rockets successfully introduced Kevin Durant through a trade during the offseason. Durant has performed well in his past seasons. Although he is 36 years old, he ranks 19th in the league in scores of 1,647 points, and his offensive efficiency ranks 11th in each round with 0.352 points. Meanwhile, he ranked seventh among the 55 players per game with a true shooting percentage of 64%. These data fully demonstrate that Durant is still a top scorer in the league, and his arrival will effectively enhance the Rockets' offensive and allow the team to have a reliable finisher at critical moments.

While Durant joining, the Rockets also signed a one-year contract with player Okogi, which further strengthened the team's roster. Okogi is a player who is very good at defensively, so what does his joining mean? First of all, from a data perspective, Okogi's real plus-negative value for defense in 417 games so far in his career has been 0.5. Among the different teams he played for, the Timberwolves remained positive at 0.3 in 244 games, while in the Suns' short 157 games, his figure rose to 0.6, and even reached 3.3 in the Hornets' 15 games. This shows that the adaptability and stability he showed on the defensive end is undoubtedly quite outstanding.

Secondly, Okogi's enthusiasm is also a highlight of him. In the 2022-2023 season, his attendance rate reached the highest level, with 7.8 interference performances against his opponent's shooting every 36 minutes after playing 72 games. If we compare it to Caruso, which is known for its defense, Caruso is 7.2 times, which shows that Okogi is obviously dominant in motivation. Because of this, he was able to effectively limit his opponent's shooting percentage from 47.2% to 42.6%. Based on these points, we can regard Okoji as a strong pillar of Rockets' defense. Not only does it have excellent data, but it also contributes to the team with its positive defensive attitude in the game.

With the arrival of Durant and Okogi's joining, the Rockets' strength on both offense and defense has continued to increase. This makes me doubt the possibility of the Thunder defending its title. The first reason is the strength of the counter position. In the 2024-2025 season, Amen Thompson limited the latter's shooting percentage to 38% during the 50-minute matchup with Alexander. Now, Okogi is added to the Rockets, which means they have richer defensive resources and can effectively fight Alexander's offense. It is worth noting that whether it is Amen or Okogi, they can devote all their energy to defensive work. The second reason is reflected in the reinforcement trend. The moment Durant was traded to the Rockets, it instantly triggered a series of chain reactions, and various teams began to strengthen. Both the Nuggets and the Clippers are making targeted signings, which makes the competition in the Western Conference in the new season particularly fierce. Almost no team can take it lightly. Except for the Jazz and the Trail Blazers, the other 13 teams have the possibility of at least entering the playoffs. From this perspective, the Rockets' reinforcement actions have clearly promoted the competitive landscape of the entire West.

When reviewing the Thunder's road to winning the championship, they did not show a strong advantage. If it weren't for Porter Jr. or Murray's poor performance, it is still a question whether the Thunder can stand out in the "tie-seven". Now, the Nuggets have introduced Valan and Cameron Johnson, and the overall strength of the team is almost the same as that of the Rockets. The Rockets' deal also allowed the Clippers to follow up. It seems that all Western teams have improved greatly in the new season. Based on these analyses, we can conclude that the Rockets' reinforcement not only improves their own strength, but also indirectly leads to other Western teams failing to show their absolute crushing advantages, which makes it much more difficult for the Thunder to defend their title. With the situation of "one rises and the other falls", Thunder's road to defending the title has obviously become more difficult.