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

[sashaturiaf]

KD might be 37 but on this Rockets team he'll be a cheat code. Yall box score watchers just wait and see

With all the athletes and physicality the Rockets bring, KD just need to do the thing he's best at. Put the ball in the hoop and provide some helpside D, both of which he's still great at

[NoStatsGuy]

Lmao, at some of the reactions here. The Rockets were a bad shooting team last season, and they managed to add one of the best shooters in the NBA while dumping their worst contract in the process. People point out KD's age, at his current age he absolute towers over anyone on the rockets when it comes to putting the ball through the hoop.

I give it about a month or two into the season until the winds have fully shifted and KD is being talked about like an MVP candidate.

the disrespect is crazy.

if people would tune out the narratives and "aura" and look at KD as a player, this was basically a homerun for houston. they've given up practically nothing for an all time great scorer, whos still one of the most unguardable players in the league. they have given up their least valuable assets. that was brilliantly played by houston. their #10 draft pick would have gotten very little minutes, they dont have room for another young player considering their former pick didnt even play much and can finally play some with green gone. im fairly certain that #10 pick would have gone to another team either way.
And why would they wanna wait for another 2-3 years? The league is as open as it will ever be. if theres ever a time to go for it, it is definitley right now.

if they give KD a proper contract.. a 1+1 or a 2+1, this is going to be so good for houston. people that say KD isnt doing much for the rockets need to reconsider their capabilities of assessing players and teams, like seriously.

[The Master]

if people would tune out the narratives and "aura" and look at KD as a player, this was basically a homerun for houston. they've given up practically nothing for an all time great scorer, whos still one of the most unguardable players in the league. they have given up their least valuable assets.

According to all metrics, KD is top20-top30 player in the league at best - still a great feat for a 37yo, so it may be a good trade for Houston, but there's a scenario in which KD doesn't move the needle for them, he's not THAT good anymore. Not to mention his age and injuries. So I don't think this is a bad trade for Houston, but whether it will turn out as good is much more complicated.

What I would certainly say is that Houston is a perfect destination for KD: playmakers (Sengun, Vanvleet), defenders (Eason, Thompson), great coaching (Udoka), so his profile will fit there perfectly (volume 3-level scorer).

[Wargreymon]

Would love to see a Rockets vs Lakers series happen next season. Please basketball Gods make it happen.

[They_Them_Hatin]

Lmao, at some of the reactions here. The Rockets were a bad shooting team last season, and they managed to add one of the best shooters in the NBA while dumping their worst contract in the process. People point out KD's age, at his current age he absolute towers over anyone on the rockets when it comes to putting the ball through the hoop.

I give it about a month or two into the season until the winds have fully shifted and KD is being talked about like an MVP candidate.

the disrespect is crazy.

if people would tune out the narratives and "aura" and look at KD as a player, this was basically a homerun for houston. they've given up practically nothing for an all time great scorer, whos still one of the most unguardable players in the league. they have given up their least valuable assets. that was brilliantly played by houston. their #10 draft pick would have gotten very little minutes, they dont have room for another young player considering their former pick didnt even play much and can finally play some with green gone. im fairly certain that #10 pick would have gone to another team either way.
And why would they wanna wait for another 2-3 years? The league is as open as it will ever be. if theres ever a time to go for it, it is definitley right now.

if they give KD a proper contract.. a 1+1 or a 2+1, this is going to be so good for houston. people that say KD isnt doing much for the rockets need to reconsider their capabilities of assessing players and teams, like seriously.

These people are just haters. Reed didn’t even get any minutes as the 3rd pick but a 10th pick would. Brooks was a joke for years and anybody can do what he does, especially Eason. Green another joke for years and another SG to add to the collection of SGs the Suns have but Houston lost the trade. Him working out with KD in the off season is one of the reason he wasn’t as trash as he normally is. KD has had to be the Suns best defender and play center and averaged an efficient 26 points at 36 but he’s about to fall off going to a 100x better defensive team that has a great center a good backup center.

[They_Them_Hatin]

Houston way overspent for a guy who turns 37 before the season starts. Phoenix is definitely the long-term winner.

They gave up an overpaid inefficient player, an overpaid 3 & D player they already had a replacements for an efficient 37 year old who was top 10 in iso defense and averaged 26 PPG on efficient shooting without the offense running through him. They also still own Phoenix picks. Meanwhile the Suns going to draft another bust and waste more years of Booker’s prime playing him out of position.

KD has legit been a great player. Y’all have just been haters expecting him to carry a team full of non defense playing SGs and the worst center rotation in the league and in the western conference.

[Wallace_Wallace]

My hypotheticals:
1. The Suns could troll Ayton and trade him back with Jalen Green. It'll be the funniest return of all time
2. Brooks + O'Neale +29th pick (and some of the 2nd round picks they just received) for RJ Barrett for playmaking

RJ Barrett
Devin Booker
Grayson Allen
Ryan Dunn
DeAndre Ayton

Bench would Beal, Richards, 10th pick (whoever it is), and a bunch of minimum guys

[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.

How did this trade impact a Pistons player?

My bad, I meant Amen.

[Chokic]

Houston Rockets committed highway robbery. Phoenix suns will phoenix suns.

[NoStatsGuy]

if people would tune out the narratives and "aura" and look at KD as a player, this was basically a homerun for houston. they've given up practically nothing for an all time great scorer, whos still one of the most unguardable players in the league. they have given up their least valuable assets.

According to all metrics, KD is top20-top30 player in the league at best - still a great feat for a 37yo, so it may be a good trade for Houston, but there's a scenario in which KD doesn't move the needle for them, he's not THAT good anymore. Not to mention his age and injuries. So I don't think this is a bad trade for Houston, but whether it will turn out as good is much more complicated.

What I would certainly say is that Houston is a perfect destination for KD: playmakers (Sengun, Vanvleet), defenders (Eason, Thompson), great coaching (Udoka), so his profile will fit there perfectly (volume 3-level scorer).

i dont disagree at all. Obviously its not prime KD. but as you mentioned, he has as good a fit around him as hes ever gonna get. And the kind of gravity he still has will impact this team A LOT.

[Hsker4Life]

They gave up nothing to get a guy who averaged 26-6-4 last year.

All these people who hated on green for several years think Jalen is somehow going to turn it around and be really good?

I mean, come on. Gave up nothing?

Green led the team in scoring, starts (durability), and was 2nd in MPG. Brooks is a nice 3 and D guy (40% from
3), was third on the team in starts, and played the 4th most MPG.

If those two guys are the bums some are trying to pretend, I hate to see how bad the guys who set the bench behind them are.

And I didn’t even mention the lottery
Pick.

KD's scoring easily eclipses anything green gave them. They have the depth to replace brooks in eason and jabari who both needed more minutes anyways. Yea those two were solid overall for them but honestly were not a championship caliber wing duo. Dbrooks tanked his value after his poor playoff performances in memphis although now everyone knows he has value as a decent starter. Green I think will improve but he isnt a guy I would build around nor would want to rely on for scoring in big games.

#10 is a risk and really disrupts the timeline for hou, but they have phx 2027, the 2029 swap to look forward to and to utilize. It is kind of a lot for a 37 yr old rental though so it will be interesting to see how they handle that situation.

KD definitely does replace his scoring, and then some, but with one huge caveat……when he’s healthy. He’s extremely fragile and will be 37 years old.

For Jalen’s faults, he’s still only 23 years old and has been very durable.

[funkatron101]

I am relieved that he did want to go to Minnesota.

[Froob]

i’d just block the number

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[Dacost]

Not a Suns fan but what a Roller coaster ride they are on.

They give up the farm for KD multiple picks and legit young players who got traded for even more picks later on.

And in return they got one playoff series and one pick.

Just absolutely brutal.

[Hsker4Life]

Not a Suns fan but what a Roller coaster ride they are on.

They give up the farm for KD multiple picks and legit young players who got traded for even more picks later on.

And in return they got one playoff series and one pick.

Just absolutely brutal.

Pretty much!

And that’s not even as bad as the Beal issue, IMO. Just a colossal fail.

[Castle Black]

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[morosis]

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low key if it is true that San Antonio really didn't have interest in KD, I believe it. Assuming health, the situations in HOU/SAS were the two that fit him most seamlessly and would give him the best opportunity for a couple nice playoff runs. I'm seeing a lot of parallels between KD and Jimmy Buckets in terms of tanking their trade value so that the team they go to can retain as much of its core as possible and be competitive.

Like, in the Giannis thread, everyone's been saying that on the surface it looks like if you can get Giannis, you absolutely should. But the reality is that he would cost so much of your current roster/draft assets to get, that youre almost guaranteed to not be competitive if you make that trade. Whereas, when Jimmy went to GS, he didn't cost the team much in terms of outgoing players/picks, and KD's cost to HOU is similarly leaving the team's core intact. Obviously it helps that both Jimmy and KD are older, whereas Giannis is still in his prime.

The cost is the #1 reason I feel good about this trade for both sides. PHX had zero leverage, but managed to get positive value assets despite that. HOU had all the leverage, and managed to get a player to fit their biggest need without breaking up their core. Win-win.

[zshawn10]

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[iggymcfrack]

KD might be 37 but on this Rockets team he'll be a cheat code. Yall box score watchers just wait and see

With all the athletes and physicality the Rockets bring, KD just need to do the thing he's best at. Put the ball in the hoop and provide some helpside D, both of which he's still great at

Yeah, the “box score watchers” will have no idea why Kevin Durant will improve one of the worst shooting teams in the league. Too bad they don’t keep track of shooting in the box score.

[Jaykoolzboy]

Rockets will get Giannis as well.