NBA Exec Praises Suns for Kevin Durant Trade Return as No Team Reportedly Upped Offer
One NBA executive believes the Phoenix Suns did a good job under the circumstances to bring back Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, the No. 10 pick of the 2025 draft and five second-rounders by trading Kevin Durant to the Houston Rockets on Sunday.
"They did pretty well, all things considered," the anonymous executive told ESPN's Tim Bontemps.
Bontemps noted, however, that before finalizing the deal with the Rockets the Suns "kept waiting for a team to up its offer, and no one did."
According to Bontemps, "Houston wasn't willing to budge off its offer and no one else was pushing to make a deal, either."
The Miami Heat meanwhile "had no interest in including Kel'el Ware" in their own offer for Durant, Bontemps reported.
Rockets general manager Rafael Stone, who earned a multi-year extension last summer after drafting players like Green, Alperen Sengun and Amen Thompson, led the talks for the Durant trade, according to The Athletic's Kelly Iko and Sam Amick.
The Rockets "maintained a firm stance" against including young players like Jabari Smith Jr., Reed Sheppard and Tari Eason as well as the Suns' 2027 and 2029 first-rounders throughout these latest talks, according to Iko and Amick.
What swayed the Suns toward ultimately accepting the Rockets' proposal was the No. 10 pick in the upcoming draft, which the Phoenix front office saw as an opportunity to bring in "someone who could step in and contribute right away," Iko and Amick reported.
Suns general manager Brian Gregory provided input on the Suns' 2023 draft but had not previously served in a GM role before his promotion in May.
The Suns may need to find an immediate difference-maker at No. 10 in order to make the return from the Durant trade a clear-set win for Gregory. Prior to the deal, Jonathan Wasserman projected in his most recent 2025 NBA mock draft for Bleacher Report that the Suns would use the No. 10 pick to draft former Duke standout Kon Knueppel.
The Rockets will meanwhile hope Durant, who averaged 26.6 points and six rebounds per game in his age-36 campaign with the Suns, can immediately elevate Houston's young core into a playoff contender.
