A former Houston Rockets standout has gotten candid about how All-Stars Kevin Durant and Alperen Sengun can fit in their first season together.
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During a new interview on longtime league insider Brandon "Scoop B" Robinson's "Scoop B Selects" series, former Rockets power forward/center Montrezl Harrell reflected on how new Houston trade acquisition Durant, even at age 37, could help bring out the best in newly-minted All-Star Sengun.
"I mean honestly, when you got a player of Kevin Durant’s caliber, he can play every position on the floor, man. So I don’t really think it’s that hard for him to play with anybody on the floor," Harrell said. "He’s won championships with Steph Curry and Klay Thompson and guys like that and has been around real superstars on the floor and then having to be subbed out and be the guy for a different role and stuff like that so, when you have a guy like that high caliber, you don’t need too much, man. Just put him on the floor with four other people that understand the game of basketball and know what they’re trying to get to and it’s going to be easy for him really. "
The Rockets' tenuous outlook in 2025-26
Houston's outlook this year took a nosedive when it was revealed that one-time All-Star point guard Fred VanVleet had torn his ACL during an offseason workout, and could miss most or all of the 2025-26 season.
The Rockets have limited depth at the point guard position, and will now likely start second-year guard Reed Sheppard, who didn't exactly impress head coach Ime Udoka after being selected with the No. 3 pick in 2024.
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The 6-foot-2 Kentucky product appeared in just 51 regular season bouts for Houston, averaging 4.5 points on .357/.343/.813 shooting splits, 1.5 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 0.7 steals a night. He was not a part of Sheppard's playoff rotation.
Robinson asked Harrell about his own recovery from simultaneous meniscus and ACL tears in the summer of 2023.
"I mean for me, I went into with a mindset that I was going to do anything to get back on the floor and I worked my tail off and actually I was cleared and I was actually to be on the floor in 6 or 7 months," Harrell said. "Most people aren’t out walking and running until nine months, you feel me? So it goes back to how hard you go into your recovery and actually how hard you go into your treatment process and I looked at mine as an uphill battle that I took as a challenge every day and I worked my tail off."
Harrell, a 6-foot-7 big man, was selected with the No. 32 pick out of Louisville by Houston in 2015. In 97 bouts with the Rockets from 2015-17, Harrell averaged 6.9 points, 2.9 rebounds, 0.8 assists, and 0.5 blocks per.
But he blossomed upon being traded to the L.A. Clippers, eventually being named Sixth Man of the Year in 2020-21.
That season, still his NBA peak, he averaged 18.6 points, 7.1 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 1.1 blocks and 0.6 steals in 63 contests.
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