Kevin Durant Reported Trade Has Fans Hailing Rockets as Top 2026 NBA Title Contenders
One of the major dominoes of the NBA offseason has fallen on the same day as Game 7 of the NBA Finals.
The Houston Rockes have reportedly acquired veteran star Kevin Durant from the Houston Rockets for Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, a 2025 first-rounder (No. 10 overall) and five second-rounders, per ESPN's Shams Charania:
The Rockets now have an exciting core group of Durant, Alperen Şengün and Amen Thompson—and likely Fred VanVleet, who is expected to return return on his $44.8 million team extension—and managed to keep their most enticing future draft assets in the process.
So all in all, this feels like a strong move for the Rockets, with social media believing they are positioned well to be major contenders next season:
It's easy enough to justify the trade for the Rockets—they took a gamble on a proven, elite scorer and got him without sacrificing their best young players or most enticing future assets. Green is only 23 and has averaged 20.1 points per game in his career, but his inconsistencies had limited Houston's upside and his eight-point showing in a Game 7 loss to the Golden State Warriors in the first round of the playoffs this season wasn't exactly the strongest final impression.
For the Suns, meanwhile, it's harder to justify the trade beyond the fact that Durant wanted to be moved and this was potentially the best offer they received.
The Suns now have a logjam at the shooting guard position, probably will miss out on the third tier of talents at this year's draft unless they trade up the board and still have to figure out if they can trade Bradley Beal and his $53.6 million contract for next season (which is no easy task, considering he has a no-trade clause).
It feels as though Green could be a player dangled to a third team at some point to get Devin Booker a more complementary running mate, but time will tell. The Suns didn't get a horrible return for a player who will be 37 when the 20225-26 season begins, but they certainly didn't get anywhere close to the return they paid to acquire Durant in the first place (Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, Jae Crowder, four unprotected first-rounders, a first-round pick swap).
If this trade ends up being part of a larger overhaul around Booker this summer, it may look better in retrospect. If this is the primary change the team makes to the roster, however... it's going to be another long season in Phoenix.
