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

[thamadkant]

I think Houston screwed up by not getting Booker and letting Phx offload KD to someone else. I don't trust KD to last for 60+ games and a playoff run at age 37.

KD will play 60 to 70 games but put up 25ppg on that team. If I was Rockets I would save KD for playoffs... so maybe play 15 games in 2025 and then save him for February to June.

[Loaf_of_bread]

At the end of the day, Houston isn't winning the championship next year.

...AND then what?

Houston going to invest another year or 2 into him?

Kind of a play just for **** and giggles. Houston GM will be on the hot seat sooner than later..

"Houston isn't winning the championship next year"

Wow, bold take. You can say that about any team not named OKC and have a 95% chance of being right.

Giving up the #10 pick to upgrade Green to KD is easily worth the swing. It's not like they punted their future with this trade.

We see this time after time, following a trade. Over-exaggerated hype.

Houston, is not a championship level team.

[Moose]

At the end of the day, Houston isn't winning the championship next year.

...AND then what?

Houston going to invest another year or 2 into him?

Kind of a play just for **** and giggles. Houston GM will be on the hot seat sooner than later..

"Houston isn't winning the championship next year"

Wow, bold take. You can say that about any team not named OKC and have a 95% chance of being right.

Giving up the #10 pick to upgrade Green to KD is easily worth the swing. It's not like they punted their future with this trade.

We see this time after time, following a trade. Over-exaggerated hype.

Houston, is not a championship level team.

Many said the same about the Pacers, but they are 1 win away.

This is a good trade for the Rockets.

[pepe1991]

This trade seems "meh" all the way around, but perhaps ESPN and the media will shut the heck up about it, but probably not. Durant trade rumors got more pub than the actual NBA Finals.

Rockets - Durant still gets his stats, but when is the last time he actually made a team better? And they're going to resign him for 50 mill a year? I'm not saying they didn't get the best player out of this deal, and they didn't really give up ALL that much, but I don't really see the point for adding Durant. They really don't seem all that better to me. They're gonna miss Brooks.

Suns - If Jalen Green is the headline for your return package - a mediocre volume scorer that plays the same position as your two best players - after breaking up a 64 win team to acquire the guy you traded for him...that's just a disaster.

Rockets - Durant still gets his stats, but when is the last time he actually made a team better?

2023 playoffs. Suns / Durant were only team that won 2 games vs Denver.
Durant averaged 30-8-4 on 57% -55% -87% splits.
Suns were 3-17 without him this year. Had winning record with him. It would be foolish to overlook how easy he fills up his 25 ppg on that efficiency and how many nba players are actually capable of doing it ( very, very, very few).

Brooks is career 49% TS player in playoffs who is two-way-below average. He is gimmick. Wannabe tough guy that is both: too slow to guard actual nba guards and too small to guard actually tall and skilled league's best wings. So his whole gimmick is to be dog that barks but can't bite.
And God his offense in playoffs is something. Nothing good but. Something.


Suns got best they could get, but they are so screwed in terms of situation they are in, that "best" they could get was pathetic , given they are sending top 15 player in return for 10th pick, overrated, overpaid shooting guard, wannabe Bruce Bowen and army of useless picks.

[Dan Z]

The Suns now have 4 shooting guards and the Rockets have none.

Odd trade. Durants shooting should help Houston.

I think there are a lot of good elements to the trade for both teams and the overload at Sg is an issue for the Suns but how big of an issue can it be when they aren’t winning anyways.

I am curious what Houston does at the other guard spot though.

It makes me wonder...was a third team not interested in Jalen Green? If so, what does that say about his value around the league.

Houston should be on the market for a shooting guard. Maybe they trade Eason or Cam?

[Jamaaliver]

Read on Twitter

[Sixers in 4]

The fact that so many on here are so sure Jalen Green is trash and Dillon Brooks is a nutcase with no value makes me like this trade even more for Suns. As always with these types of things, stating anything definitively right after the trade is just stupid. Wait min of three years, maybe five and then grade it.

Everybody thinks the trade is awful, I could never be more excited.

You are a weird dude lol

[Infinite Llamas]

People saying KD is old but they unloaded Green who was an absolute negative on the court. Just imagine the playoff series this year with KD instead of that woeful chucker Green. He seriously didn’t improve at all in 4 years.

[KGDirkTD_Fan]

this is the equivalent of the Pacers giving up Mathurin, Nesmith, a 1st, and 5 2nds for KD... I think the Pacers would do that this afternoon if they could.

I don't think Indy would do that actually.

And I really disagree on the comparison -- Nesmith is a valuable asset, Mathurin has more potential than Green.

Jalen is a clear negative asset, and Brooks is just OK. I like this trade for the Rockets but don't think Indy would want to make that trade. Nesmith clicks with the Indy core, Green didn't in Hou and Brooks choked in Game 7 (and motivated the GS stars).

It's a terrible comparison.

Nesmith is an ELITE role player that 30/30 teams would absolutely LOVE to have in their rotation. Lights out 3pt shooter that competes on both ends and doesn't need more than half a second of breathing room to get his shot off. Mathurin hasn't shot the 3 ball well in the playoffs but he's still been serviceable & able to score efficiently because he gets to the line a lot. And he's in his 3rd season.

Jalen Green is a flat out chucker who doesn't do anything other than score inefficiently, and has been the same player since he was a rookie. Dillon Brooks has some talent but historically has been a pretty bad playoff performer.

Houston committed flat out highway robbery. Off loaded players they really don't want going forward while giving up very little (10th pick in a mediocre draft isn't much). KD is still a very good player. The suns over the last few years have been putting on a master class on exactly how you ruin a young promising team.

I havent watched a ton of Rockets games this year but I watched all their post season games and Green was atrocious. He leaves no illusion on what he's going to do on offense. Runs straight at the basket with a layup so it gets blocked. Unable to create separation to score, sloppy basketball when he gets pressed in a playoff game.

If Green was on the level of a Nesmith the trade may not have happened. There's something to be said about a player who was part of your post-Harden rebuild and gets traded the moment the team is making playoffs runs to another team that probably might be in a rebuild soon.

People play around the idea of trading Suggs or Garland or whoever for a win now player or whatever but it always hits a wall because the downside risk too great. I don't think anyone thinks this way with Green.

[benhillboy]

I don’t care for Cupcake at all but I do love this for Ausar. This move further masks (and gives him more time to correct) his poor jumpshot and supercharges his playmaking ability. He’s gonna have a crazy, historical FG% and assist combo stat for a forward that young.

I don’t care about Dillon Brooks either but you are losing some intangibles edge and isolation defense that you certainly won’t replace with Durant. That totally matters in a team setting when things are going left. Those are the situations where Durant-led teams are helpless.

Durant is obviously head and shoulders above Jalen Green but Rockets fans better hope Udoka, Van Fleet, Adams, etc can combat the malaise that always infects teams that hire Durant as a mercenary. His teammates just slowly, and seemingly unknowingly, assimilate to his lackadaisical style as it pertains to pretty much everything on the floor outside of scoring. His unwillingness to run the floor hard, box out, and screen are absolute killers to team flow. I still think they’re a pretty tough second-round out as constructed today given the age and injury histories of Durant and Adams.

[davidv2001]

That's who he is at this point. He's a career 40% shooter.

Fred VanVleet almost exclusively shoots threes at this point in his career. He’s never going to shoot a high percentage with his shot chart.

Sure but he has never been a high percentage shooter either. It's not going to change now.


At this point you just hope he improves on his 34% 3 point shooting that he's shot 2 of the past 3 years.

Agreed. He needs to do a better job of hitting his open three-point shots for the Rockets. If he shoots 37% or better from three on good volume, I can live with his overall field goal percentage.

[threethehardway]

Many said the same about the Pacers, but they are 1 win away.

This is a good trade for the Rockets.

It's not a good trade for the Rockets.

It took injury luck for the Pacers to get ahead in a East that quickly became weak when Cavs and Celtics went down.

Plus, Pacers got a Pascal Siakim at the beginning of the end of his prime. KD is out of his.

Kevin Durant is old and has largely been ineffective since he left GSW. He can't stay healthy, he doesn't provide global offensive or defensive impact.

Trading Jalen Green is a good move, trading him for KD, so they can go back to the second round isn't.

If anything, the Rockets need a PG.

[davidv2001]

Rockets - Durant still gets his stats, but when is the last time he actually made a team better? And they're going to resign him for 50 mill a year? I'm not saying they didn't get the best player out of this deal, and they didn't really give up ALL that much, but I don't really see the point for adding Durant. They really don't seem all that better to me. They're gonna miss Brooks.

Phoenix was 33-29 in games Durant played last year. 3-17 in the games he did not. I’d say he made a bad Suns’ roster much better when he played.

Also, the Rockets won 50 games last year on the back of elite defense and rebounding along with protecting the basketball. Their weaknesses: perimeter shooting and free-throw shooting, and not having a number one offensive option and late game bucket getter. All those things are what Kevin Durant does exceptionally well.

Then, he will be surrounded by strong defenders in Amen Thompson, Tari Eason, Jabari Smith Jr. and Fred VanVleet. Plus, Ime Udoka is a great defensive coach.

The bottom line is Durant doesn’t have to carry the Rockets. He simply needs to be the efficient scorer he’s been his entire career, and the Rockets become much better.

[zero rings]

At the end of the day, Houston isn't winning the championship next year.

...AND then what?

Houston going to invest another year or 2 into him?

Kind of a play just for **** and giggles. Houston GM will be on the hot seat sooner than later..

"Houston isn't winning the championship next year"

Wow, bold take. You can say that about any team not named OKC and have a 95% chance of being right.

Giving up the #10 pick to upgrade Green to KD is easily worth the swing. It's not like they punted their future with this trade.

We see this time after time, following a trade. Over-exaggerated hype.

Houston, is not a championship level team.

They’re a better team than they were did yesterday, and it didn’t cost them much.

What exactly are you getting at here? Should teams never make any trades unless it GUARANTEES a championship?

[Hsker4Life]

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?

Because it’s only June, they got rid of an always-injured 37 year old and now have more assets to better their future.

[threethehardway]

It makes me wonder...was a third team not interested in Jalen Green? If so, what does that say about his value around the league.

Houston should be on the market for a shooting guard. Maybe they trade Eason or Cam?

Why would they trade Eason or Cam? Eason is their second best defender and Cam is a great bench scorer.

They could slide Cam to SG and not miss a beat.

[davidv2001]

Many said the same about the Pacers, but they are 1 win away.

This is a good trade for the Rockets.

It's not a good trade for the Rockets.

It took injury luck for the Pacers to get ahead in a East that quickly became weak when Cavs and Celtics went down.

Plus, Pacers got a Pascal Siakim at the beginning of the end of his prime. KD is out of his.

Kevin Durant is old and has largely been ineffective since he left GSW. He can't stay healthy, he doesn't provide global offensive or defensive impact.

Trading Jalen Green is a good move, trading him for KD, so they can go back to the second round isn't.

If anything, the Rockets need a PG.

It is a good trade for the Rockets. The Rockets could not shoot to save their lives last season and still won 50 games because of Udoka, playing hard every possession, defense and historic rebounding. Kevin Durant doesn’t have to provide global offensive or defensive impact for the Rockets to improve. He simply needs to efficiently score and shoot the basketball like he has done his entire career.

The Rockets have Amen Thompson, Fred VanVleet and Tari Eason to anchor the perimeter defense. They have VanVleet, Alperen Sengun and Amen Thompson as players with playmaking ability with Reed Sheppard on their bench. What they needed was an efficient shooter who could also be their number one scorer and late-game closer. Kevin Durant has those traits in spades.

[WiggOuts]

This seems like an overpay for a 37 year old who has been getting injured a lot these recent years but I can definitely see both teams getting better after this. PHO should trade 10 for bpa

[Hsker4Life]

I think Houston screwed up by not getting Booker and letting Phx offload KD to someone else. I don't trust KD to last for 60+ games and a playoff run at age 37.

KD will play 60 to 70 games but put up 25ppg on that team. If I was Rockets I would save KD for playoffs... so maybe play 15 games in 2025 and then save him for February to June.

He’s played 70 games once since 2019. He’ll be 37 when the season begins. I think you’re being too generous.

[165bows]

The Suns now have 4 shooting guards and the Rockets have none.

Odd trade. Durants shooting should help Houston.

I think there are a lot of good elements to the trade for both teams and the overload at Sg is an issue for the Suns but how big of an issue can it be when they aren’t winning anyways.

I am curious what Houston does at the other guard spot though.

It makes me wonder...was a third team not interested in Jalen Green? If so, what does that say about his value around the league.

Houston should be on the market for a shooting guard. Maybe they trade Eason or Cam?

On the first Id guess prob not, at least in the way the two principal teams were looking for.

On the second, I’d assume other moves are coming, Rockets are swamped with PFs and really light on guards.