The Phoenix Suns are trading Kevin Durant to the Houston Rockets for Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, the No. 10 pick in this year’s draft and five second-round picks. ESPN’s Shams Charania was first to report.
As a final wrinkle, the deal can only become official on July 6. This is due to a poison pill restriction in Green’s rookie extension.
Houston has long been connected with a Durant trade but stood firm in not wanting to give up its best young assets. Amen Thompson was never on the table but it’s an organizational win that Jabari Smith also remains a Rocket.
Only Houston and the Miami Heat were in discussions to acquire the two-time Finals MVP over the weekend.
For Phoenix, the organization can now move on from an underwhelming Durant era. It brought about just one playoff series victory in three years, with the Suns missing both the playoffs and Play-In Tournament entirely this season.
Durant will now be expected to elevate the second seed in the West and a first-round playoff exit to legitimate title contender. How long the window is comes down to extension talks. He can sign a two-year extension worth $122 million.
The 15-time All-Star averaged 26.6 points, 6.0 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.2 blocks in 62 games this past season. He shot 52.7 percent from the field, including 43 percent from three and made 83.9 percent at the free-throw line.
Durant Reacts To Trade Live
Funnily enough, Durant was actually at an event for his media network, Boardroom. He was in the midst of a Q&A session with media personality Taylor Rooks when fans in attendance exploded after seeing the trade notification on their phones.
Durant was forced to give some type of reaction and said, “We will see, man, we will see what happens. We gon’ see.” He had a huge smile on his face while doing so.
Houston’s biggest weakness is scoring and there will hardly be a better remedy than one of the game’s all-time leading scorers.