Shams: Kevin Durant Traded to Rockets for Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, No. 10, Five 2nd Round Picks

[Backcountry]

You think they bring back Fred? I always got the impression that his salary was more cap filler than worth. It will be interesting to see what happens there. He's a pretty good floor general (and really overmaligned in Toronto), but he is overpaid right now. I wonder if Houston plans to replace him or offer him a lot less by his next contract.

VanVleet is going to be back as the Rockets’ point guard next season. The debate among Rockets’ fans was would it be Brooks or him included if they did trade for Durant. They also really need his ability to stretch defenses by taking threes.

Yeah he's back for 25-26, last year of his contract, but he's also making almost $45 million. That seems a huge overpay for Fred, so I'm interested to see what happens before 26-27.

[Froob]

lmao, is Pat Riley like a bottom 3 GM at this point?

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The fact that Riley thought Durant would move the needle for them blows my mind. They'd still be lucky to make the play in.

Not sure who is more delusional right now Miami or Toronto. Both dying to be in the play in

[Yank3525]

Interesting poll results. Suns won this trade imo. KD is too old to lead a team and will surely bring discord into that locker room as he has at every stop.

Suns have a total mess of a roster with Beal, Booker and now Green on the books. Who all play the same position and play zero defense. How is this a win for them?

People hate KD on here. This trade is ass for the Suns.

[PushDaRock]

You think they bring back Fred? I always got the impression that his salary was more cap filler than worth. It will be interesting to see what happens there. He's a pretty good floor general (and really overmaligned in Toronto), but he is overpaid right now. I wonder if Houston plans to replace him or offer him a lot less by his next contract.

VanVleet is going to be back as the Rockets’ point guard next season. The debate among Rockets’ fans was would it be Brooks or him included if they did trade for Durant. They also really need his ability to stretch defenses by taking threes.

Yeah he's back for 25-26, last year of his contract, but he's also making almost $45 million. That seems a huge overpay for Fred, so I'm interested to see what happens before 26-27.

They're going to decline the option and extend him at a lower number

[VanWest82]

Suns have a total mess of a roster with Beal, Booker and now Green on the books. Who all play the same position and play zero defense. How is this a win for them?

Because they had screwed up their roster and had no path to contention. Getting something back for KD that can be used to build for the future was step one of what will surely be a multi-year transition/rebuild. This trade was about getting assets back not building a playoff team that makes sense. This is only step one.

Their roster isn't any less screwed up now. They're just worse and got one quality pick for it. They didn't even get back their own pick.

KD will be 37 and has it hasn't worked his last two stops now. This is what his value is, and it's only declining from here.

Brooks is a valuable defensive stopper on a reasonable contract for two years. That's a trade asset for a contender. Suns got five 2nds to take swings. And yes, they agreed to take on Jalen Green who might be a bust but is also very talented and only 23. I dispute that they "only" got a quality pick here. They got a bunch of stuff and we don't know yet how that stuff will play out. Suns did better than I expected.

[bbms]

green out is addition by substraction. durant for brooks is a clear improvement. i think houston improves for the next season, i don't know after, i like that 10th pick.

kd would be huge for them if they can get kd on that caruso diet of load management okc did in regular season.

[Backcountry]

I tend to agree about Amen... and he's not a loose canon. On the cost front, I'm not discounting what KD's extension will look like though. That could be ugly for Houston with Jabari and Tari up for extensions this summer too.... and they still have to bring back FVV.

You think they bring back Fred? I always got the impression that his salary was more cap filler than worth. It will be interesting to see what happens there. He's a pretty good floor general (and really overmaligned in Toronto), but he is overpaid right now. I wonder if Houston plans to replace him or offer him a lot less by his next contract.

Not sure what they'll do with FVV. They're not going to start 20 year old Reed Sheppard at point though.

No, I mainly meant for 26-27, after Fred's contract runs out. But you never know, it's a team option next season. I think he'll be great beside KD.

[flow]

This season Durant averaged 26.6 points, .527 field, .430 threes, 1.2 blocks... so when will he have a bad season?
Age 37 ... 26ppg
Age 38 ... 26ppg
Age 39 ... 25ppg
Age 40 ... 25ppg
Age 41 ... 24ppg
And might actually score more than 26ppg, because he's getting more efficient with age!

Durant 3-pointer shooting:
Phoenix .427
Brooklyn .400
Golden State .384
Oklahoma City .380

Good point he will just keep getting better and never age and be the first player to defy father time

Certainly looks that way! At least until age 45 when he probably will score less than 20ppg
I don't think there's ever been a player so tall that shot so as well as Durant from all ranges, so we can't apply the usual rules to his future.

If stats is your basis for pimping Durant, then like stats themselves, you're missing half the story.

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[gmoney411]

Interesting poll results. Suns won this trade imo. KD is too old to lead a team and will surely bring discord into that locker room as he has at every stop.

They didn't bring him in to lead the team. They brought him in to get buckets. The offense will still run through Sengun and Bari/Tari/Amen will make KD's job on defense much easier. As much as I liked having Brooks he plays a role that the Rockets have the most depth at. if Reed or Cam can step up the Rockets are set.

Presumably we're talking about playoff buckets. He's going to be 37 next year. I don't see him getting tough playoff buckets anymore. Will he get you 20 in the flow of the offense? Sure. He might even average 25 in the regular season. I don't think KD is solving the Houston playoff offense.

He's likely not but that goes back to why they are getting him and it's not to be the leader of the team or offense. The Rockets will be counting on progress from Sengun/Amen/Tari/Bari/Cam/Reed to get them to true contender status. KD's biggest contribution will be elite floor spacing and shot making that should open up the floor for the young guys.

[zshawn10]

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Translation: we want to up his value before we can trade him

[Mirotic12]

Thats it for KD?

He’s in his late 30’s it’s not like he’s got a lot of good seasons left

This season Durant averaged 26.6 points, .527 field, .430 threes, 1.2 blocks... so when will he have a bad season?
Age 37 ... 26ppg
Age 38 ... 26ppg
Age 39 ... 25ppg
Age 40 ... 25ppg
Age 41 ... 24ppg
And might actually score more than 26ppg, because he's getting more efficient with age!

Durant 3-pointer shooting:
Phoenix .427
Brooklyn .400
Golden State .384
Oklahoma City .380

He had better teams on paper than the Rockets, with the Nets and Suns and those teams both crashed and burned as failures.

Even in the last two Olympics, while playing on the by far and away best and most stacked team in the tournament (USA), he could barely beat international teams when it mattered. And actually wouldn't have in the last Olympics without Curry.

Durant was once a really great player, and I loved his game and watching him play, but at this point in his career, he's just a shooter on offense, and he can't play any defense.

His stats still look really nice, but in reality, he's a complete shell of the player he was on Golden State.

[Gert42]

I think Fred probably opts out and then signs a 3 year deal at a lower number AAV.

[Warspite]

Great trade for the Suns, I'm sure they need another shooting guard when they already got 2 max contract SG in their squad.

Its par for the Suns. They used to have 4 starting PGs Kidd/Nash/KJ/Cassell

[juanc]

So now instead of two SGs and a SF/PF, the Suns best players are three SGs??

Phoenix SGuns

[Ambrose]

Because they had screwed up their roster and had no path to contention. Getting something back for KD that can be used to build for the future was step one of what will surely be a multi-year transition/rebuild. This trade was about getting assets back not building a playoff team that makes sense. This is only step one.

Their roster isn't any less screwed up now. They're just worse and got one quality pick for it. They didn't even get back their own pick.

KD will be 37 and has it hasn't worked his last two stops now. This is what his value is, and it's only declining from here.

Brooks is a valuable defensive stopper on a reasonable contract for two years. That's a trade asset for a contender. Suns got five 2nds to take swings. And yes, they agreed to take on Jalen Green who might be a bust but is also very talented and only 23. I dispute that they "only" got a quality pick here. They got a bunch of stuff and we don't know yet how that stuff will play out. Suns did better than I expected.

Just because it's more than you expected doesn't mean it's good. This is the most positive spin you could give and it's still not good.

Meanwhile KD is heading to the deepest team he's played on in close to a decade with a ton of young talent that's already good. This is the easiest he's had it since 2018.

[zshawn10]

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[threethehardway]

Terrible trade for the Rockets. KD isn't going to make them contenders.

At least the Suns got rid of kD's contract but it's a terrible trade for them too.

All around bad for everybody.

[azcatz11]

Surprised Phoenix didnt demand Jabari Smith in the deal.

Jabari is worth far more than old man KD. He hasn’t gotten a chance to sprout his wings yet.

[ball_takes23]

The real question is - Did Houston impove themselves for next season?

The Pacers last year were in a similar position to Houston this year. They chose to hold thier cards and run it back. Now they're on the brink of a championship. Houston just decided to do the opposite. They cashed in their nucleus/chemistry instead of building on it.

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Pacers made the ECF last year and took boston down to the wire before Hali got injured. Rockets were much closer to 2023 Memphis than 2024 Indiana

[thelead]

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OKC will have tougher time getting out of the west next year