Kevin Durant Compares New-Look 76ers With LeBron James to His Championship Warriors Teams

Houston Rockets forward Kevin Durant said Saturday that LeBron James and the new-look Philadelphia 76ers have the offensive firepower to compete for the 2027 NBA championship, comparing the team’s combined scoring power to the championship Golden State Warriors squads he once played on.

Speaking at a USA Basketball Foundation charity event in Ladera Ranch, California, Durant evoked his two Golden State Warriors title teams, which also featured Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, when discussing the scoring potential of Philadelphia’s newly assembled core of James, Jaylen Brown, Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey. “The last time they put three 20-point scorers on a team, they said it was unfair, which was the [Warriors] team I was on,” Durant said. “[The 76ers] have got four 25-point scorers on this team. So, hell yeah, I think they’re going to be a contender. They’re going to be a fun team to watch. It’s going to be League Pass-worthy.”

Brown, Embiid and Maxey each averaged at least 25 points per game last season, giving the 76ers a level of combined scoring depth that Durant suggested exceeds even the star power he experienced during his own championship years in Golden State, when the Warriors’ trio of 20-point scorers drew criticism from around the league for creating an uneven competitive landscape.

Philadelphia’s roster transformation this offseason has been significant. The 76ers acquired Brown from the Boston Celtics in a trade before adding James on a two-year, $8 million contract following a lengthy free agency process that saw James ultimately choose Philadelphia over several other prominent suitors. Oddsmakers have responded to the moves by ranking the 76ers among the league’s leading championship contenders for next season, trailing only the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs in current title odds.

The stakes carry significant historical weight for both the franchise and its newest star. Philadelphia is seeking its first NBA championship since 1983, a drought spanning more than four decades. James, meanwhile, is pursuing a milestone that would be unprecedented in league history: becoming the first player ever to win an NBA championship with four different franchises, following his previous titles with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers.

Beyond his comments on the 76ers, Durant used the same charity event to address his own future with the U.S. national basketball team, reiterating his desire to compete at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Durant would turn 40 shortly before those Games begin, but he has previously said he does not want to simply age out of consideration for the roster. “I didn’t want to just take my name out of consideration just because of the simple fact that I’m older and I did it before,” Durant said in earlier comments regarding his Olympic ambitions. “Grant understands my love for Team USA. That’s my family. The level of love I have for Team USA and the whole organization over there is unmatched, so I’d love to be part of it until I’m done playing.”

Durant has played in the past four Olympics and became the career scoring leader for USA men’s basketball in the process, but he has said he wants to earn any potential spot on the 2028 roster rather than receive automatic consideration based on his past accomplishments. Speaking about how that decision would ultimately be made, Durant deferred to USA Basketball’s leadership. “It’s really on [USA Basketball managing director] Grant Hill and what Team USA wants to do,” Durant said. “I stay on top of my game and hopefully I get that call, but there’s so many great players who deserve to be on the team.”

If selected for the 2028 roster, Durant would have the opportunity to become the first men’s basketball player in Olympic history to win five gold medals, provided the United States wins the men’s tournament for a sixth consecutive time. Durant, James and Curry famously played together for the first time at the 2024 Paris Olympics, leading Team USA to gold with victories over Nikola Jokic and Serbia in the semifinals and Victor Wembanyama and host-nation France in the championship game, a run that many assumed at the time would mark the trio’s final Olympic appearance together given their ages.

In his first season with Houston after being traded from Phoenix, the 37-year-old Durant has continued performing at an elite level, averaging 26.1 points, 5.4 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game while shooting 50.6% from the field, 40.4% from three-point range and 88.1% from the free-throw line, numbers that underscore why he remains in serious consideration for a spot on the national team roster despite his age.

Durant’s remarks add to the wave of reaction across the league since James’s decision to sign with Philadelphia became official, with players, executives and analysts continuing to weigh in on how the addition reshapes both the 76ers’ immediate championship outlook and the broader competitive landscape heading into the 2026-27 NBA season.