The Houston Rockets have cemented themselves as Playoff challengers this season, holding a 27-13 record through the midway point of the 2024-25 NBA season. After five seasons, the team is well-placed to return to the Playoffs and has built the foundation of a potential long-term contender. What they lack right now is a featured star who can carry the team through a Playoff run.
The Phoenix Suns have had a disastrous start to the season with a 20-20 record, with many questioning the Playoff viability of the franchise. They still have a franchise star like Devin Booker who’s 28 years old, so the team shouldn’t punt on future success by digging themselves deeper into a hole trying to acquire Jimmy Butler.Â
Instead, they can forge a path to the future by reacquiring the picks they gave up to land Kevin Durant in a trade with the Rockets. Michael Pina of The Ringer suggested a trade where the Rockets acquire Durant.`
Trade Details
Houston Rockets Receive: Kevin Durant ($51.1 million)
Utah Jazz Receive: Fred VanVleet ($42.8 million), Jeff Green ($8.0 million), 2025 First-Round Pick (PHX), 2025 First-Round Pick (HOU), 2027 First-Round Pick (PHX), 2029 First-Round Pick (PHX)
The Rockets acquired future Suns picks from the Nets with reports indicating that they hoped to use those picks to entice the Suns into sending them Durant. That plan could become a reality early, allowing the Suns to refocus expectations from the 2025 season and consolidate for a lottery pick while also getting more time to find a future destination for Bradley Beal.
The Rockets Land The Perfect Final Touch
The Houston Rockets have the perfect defensive system for the foundation of a contending franchise, as their defense has been their biggest strength this season. However, the team lacks game-changing offensive players. Jalen Green is their primary scorer and is in a good run of form right now, but he has troubling inconsistencies. Regardless, having another elite scorer alongside Green will give the Rockets more answers for challenging Playoff defenses.
Kevin Durant is averaging 27.1 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 4.2 assists this season. The star forward is one of the greatest offensive forces in league history and is still playing at an elite level. He’s holding up defensively as he ages as well, performing at a high level on that end of the court at 36 years old. The Suns are over-reliant on Durant and have been wearing him down, but the Rockets are well-placed to give him defensive support.
Maintaining their young core while landing a finishing piece like Durant will be a terrifying development. The loss of Fred VanVleet will hurt, but it allows Ime Udoka to realize his dream of moving Amen Thompson to the starting point guard and weening VanVleet out of the lineup.
This would set Houston up for immediate contention while keeping them well-placed for the future as they still own their own picks and have held onto their young core.
The Suns Look For New Avenues To Build Around Devin Booker
The Suns have mismanaged the last few seasons of Devin Booker’s career. Their knee-jerk reaction to the Dallas Mavericks humiliating them in the 2022 Playoffs by trading their well-built core of players away for Durant with years of draft assets hasn’t worked out. Additional moves like the Bradley Beal and Jusuf Nurkic acquisitions have further hurt the team, who look far away from being a championship roster right now.
Instead of chasing Jimmy Butler to create another poorly balanced roster that’s over-reliant on two players above 35 years old, they can land massive cap relief with Fred VanVleet. His $42.8 million expiring contract will give the team massive cap relief in the summer, even more if they move on from Beal as well.Â
Fred is averaging 15.0 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 6.1 assists this season, but will likely be acquired for the cap flexibility he’ll provide. The same applies to Jeff Green’s expiring $8 million contract, with the veteran averaging 4.2 points.Â
Regaining control of their future draft picks is the primary coup, as it allows the Suns to look for more complementary moves, make salary-controlled draft selections to remain competitive, and build around Booker with their new core featuring Ryan Dunn as well.
Is This A Good Deal?
Pina has the right idea with a potential Durant to Houston trade, but the package being shaped this way seems far-fetched. The Suns won’t be interested in maximizing future cap flexibility ahead of a subpar free agency class, but they would like a young star like Cam Whitmore who seems dissatisfied with the Rockets. Houston also wouldn’t want to move Jeff Green given his proven compatibility with Durant.
The pick return is ideal and VanVleet’s inclusion might be unavoidable due to salaries, but Whitmore instead of Green would make more sense. It gives the Suns a tangible future asset who’s anyway made redundant in Houston with Durant joining. They’ll focus on young forwards like Jabari Smith Jr. and Tari Eason behind Durant instead of Whitmore.
This is a great starting point for negotiation but could be ironed out by tweaking assets. The Rockets seem like the obvious destination for Durant in any future trade given the control of the Suns’ future picks, so we’ll have to see how long before these rumors intensify.
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