Houston, we have a contender.
Late Sunday morning, the Houston Rockets made one of their biggest offseason moves in recent memory, finalizing a trade with the Phoenix Suns to bring superstar forward Kevin Durant to Houston.
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OUR FIRST REPORT: Houston Rockets land Kevin Durant, trade Green, Brooks to Suns
For the sake of clarity, the full terms of the trade are as follows:
Rockets receive: Kevin Durant.
Suns receive: Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, 2025 first-round pick (No. 10 overall), five second-round picks (No. 59 overall in 2025, two picks in 2026, one pick acquired from Boston in 2030, one pick in 2032).
With the terms solidified, here are five things we learned about the Rockets going forward:
The Rockets got a star at an unbelievable discount. Here’s how:
The near-universal reaction from experts and fans following the announcement of the KD trade was that the Suns’ return was surprisingly slim. There were a few reasons for this.
KD will be 37 years old before he even makes his Rockets debut. To be sure, he is still one of the league’s premier scorers, and his physical decline has been negligible compared to his offensive output, but you’d be foolish to plan for a future with Durant that extends beyond three to four seasons at this point. This deal is a win-now rental, and both Durant and the Rockets’ front office are keenly aware of that.
On top of that, KD as a player has never been cheaper. The KD-to-Phoenix experiment was an abject failure, although many would argue that the roster constructed around him was more to blame for that outcome (seriously, the Bradley Beal trade was ridiculous).
After the Suns flamed out and missed the play-in tournament in 2025, KD made his desire to get out of the desert clear to anybody who would listen. With the Suns clearly looking to acquire draft capital for Wednesday’s NBA Draft, the clock was ticking, and Phoenix had zero trade leverage.
When the trade to Houston was announced, sources reported that the Miami Heat were the only other finalist at the conclusion of the trade talks. Reports also surfaced that their final offer was less than stellar.
Yes basically the Miami offer was junk. No Ware. No Jovic. Only one draft pick and players they nor the Suns wanted. Garbage. Miami was never really serious. They just pretend to be to appease their fan base. https://t.co/C6LQtETK8i
— John Gambadoro (@Gambo987) June 23, 2025
A farewell to Jalen Green
Although Houston got KD at a relative discount, they still had to be willing to part with one of the biggest pieces of their rebuild: Jalen Green.
Drafted No. 2 overall in the 2021 NBA Draft, Green was the first star in the post-James Harden era of Rockets basketball. In his four seasons in Houston, he saw the team transform from a league bottom-feeder into the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference.
Alongside his 2021 draftmate Alperen Sengun, Green agreed to a lucrative contract extension ahead of the 2024 season. Green signed for three years and $106 million.
FULL TERMS: Jalen Green and Alperen Sengun agree to contract extensions with Rockets, AP source says
The 2024–25 season was complicated for Green. He wasn’t bad by any stretch, but he was the same guy he had always been: a high-volume, low-efficiency scorer with dwindling contributions when the ball wasn’t in his hands.
The criticisms of his game reached a boiling point in the Rockets’ first-round playoff matchup against the Golden State Warriors. He scored 38 points in Game 2, but he tallied just 12 points or fewer in the other six games of the series (including four outings in single digits). After this collapse, a future without Green seemed like a clearer solution.
Still, he’s just 23 years old. His athleticism and talent have never been a concern; it’s just a question of whether or not he can put it all together. He did a lot for the Rockets in his four seasons, and he deserves a respectful exit from H-Town.
Age is just a number with KD, but the durability concerns are real
As mentioned before, Durant will be 37 this year. That number would be alarming regarding 99% of NBA players (especially a near-seven-footer), but KD is truly a once-in-a-generation type of player. The smoothness of his game and efficiency in his stat lines make him a no-brainer even in the swan song of his career. Whenever a player of this caliber is available to play for your team, signing him is the right decision.
However, the key word in that statement, when it comes to KD, is available. Don’t get it twisted: Durant has been fairly reliable throughout his career, all things considered. However, with every passing year, the questions of durability get tougher and tougher to shrug off.
In the five years since he missed the entire 2019–20 season with a torn Achilles, Durant has played more than 62 regular season games just once. He’s going to need a few nights off, and missing games for rest seems almost guaranteed. Load management shouldn’t be a big concern, especially with how deep this Rockets team projects to be; it’s entirely about avoiding major injuries as the roster stands now.
The Dillon Brooks signing was a risk, but it paid off
In the 2023 offseason, the Rockets were in a unique position where they had to spend money. Looking to use enough cap space to meet the NBA’s salary floor, they completed a sign-and-trade deal with the Memphis Grizzlies to acquire forward Dillon Brooks.
At the time, Brooks’ stock was as low as it had ever been. He had a chaotic season in Memphis, with a strange locker room presence that led the team to not-so-subtly announce a desire to cut ties with him. The Rockets turned around and signed him to a four-year, $80 million deal.
This was widely panned as an overpay at the time, and to be sure, it was. But the version of Dillon Brooks the Rockets saw over the last two seasons certainly gave fans a reason to trust the front office’s process. He was a consistent three-and-D role player who provided veteran leadership during crucial years of development for the team’s ascending youngsters.
He held onto the defensive intensity and tough-guy persona that made him notable in Memphis, but he strayed away from the immaturity and turmoil that soured his last stint. There was clear character development that took place.
After improving his game and reshaping his image, Brooks was a valuable asset in the Rockets’ package to acquire a franchise-transforming player in KD. This was a roster-development masterclass for general manager Rafael Stone. Hats off.
