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Kevin Durant traded to Rockets
Kevin Durant traded to Rockets
The Houston Rockets have acquired Phoenix Suns star forward Kevin Durant in exchange for Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, the No. 10 pick in this week’s draft and five second-round picks, ESPN NBA Insider Shams Charania first reported Sunday.
The Suns set a soft deadline to get a deal done by this Wednesday’s draft. Mission accomplished!
Longtime Phoenix sports radio host John Gambadoro reported Sunday that a trade for Durant would be completed either Sunday or Monday. The trade cannot become official until July 6.
While the interest between Houston and Durant appeared to be one-sided, they were able to meet Phoenix’s asking price for him over one week after he was listed Houston as one of his preferred destinations.
The Suns didn’t have any leverage throughout the process because of Durant’s age, contract and the fact that he was lumped into trade talks at the deadline. The writing was on the wall. While the original Durant-Suns trade package is nowhere in comparison to this one, they didn’t get a bad haul back, though I am curious to see how they progress with the Jalen Green-Devin Booker-Bradley Beal dynamic of this.
As for Houston, it needed Durant as much as anyone; it was the ninth-worst half-court offense in the entire NBA, according to Cleaning The Glass, with the eighth-worst effective field goal percentage and the seventh-worst true-shooting percentage.
Durant, 36, does have a recent history of lower-body soft tissue injuries, but he’s still one of the best offensive players in the NBA when he’s available.
The 11-time All-NBA member averaged 26.6 points on 52.7 percent shooting, 43.0 percent from 3-point range and 83.9 percent from the free-throw line. He also won’t be tasked with shouldering a huge burden offensively, with the exception of end-of-shot-clock and late-game situations if Houston can’t generate a bucket.
Rockets want to compete in a loaded West, and they still have enough to take another sizable swing if they choose to.
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