Kevin Durant could not contain his excitement to join the Houston Rockets after the Phoenix Suns finally agreed to a blockbuster deal on Sunday, June 22.
“Being part of the Houston Rockets, I’m looking forward to it,” Durant told Kay Adams at Fanatics Fest in New York. “It was crazy, crazy last couple of weeks. I’m glad it’s over.”
Durant was elated and, at the same time, felt a huge relief that his time in Phoenix had finally ended after his relationship with the Suns was strained following their attempt to deal him at the trade deadline without his knowledge.
“People could just hang your career in the balance like that, and just choose what they want to do to your career,” Durant told Adams, referring to the Suns. … but being able to kind of dictate what you what you want to do, and being with a team that values you, and I’m looking forward to it.”
Details of The Blockbuster Trade
Durant said he had an idea where he’s headed as he admitted that he furnished the Suns where he wants to play next, with the Rockets among his preferred destinations.
“I didn’t know exactly when it was gonna happen,” Durant told Adams.
It finally happened with the Rockets landing Durant after agreeing to send former No. 2 pick Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, the No. 10 pick in the 2025 draft and five second-round picks to Phoenix, ESPN’s Shams Charania reports.
The five second-round picks headed to the Suns are the No. 59 selection in this year’s draft, two in 2026, one in 2030 (from Boston) and one in 2032, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks.
The trade cannot be finalized until July 6, “because of the poison pill restriction in the Jalen Green rookie extension,” Marks added. So the Rockets will pick on Suns’ behalf in the first round of the 2025 NBA Draft on June 25 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Replacing The Inconsistent Jalen Green
The Rockets highly value Durant, who even at 36, still averaged 26.6 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.2 assists in 62 games this season.
Durant will turn 37 this September, but his past three seasons suggest he’s far from being over the hill.
Charania noted that the two-time NBA champion averaged at least 25 points, 50% field goal shooting and 40% on 3-pointers in three straight seasons, the longest streak ever in the NBA, according to ESPN Research.
Durant joins a Rockets team that clinched the No. 2 seed, but failed to get out of the first round with a sputtering offense as Green, their topscorer in the regular season, flopped in his first rodeo in the postseason.
Green’s scoring dropped from 21.0 points per game in the regular season to just 13.3 in the postseason.
Kevin Durant Tempers Rockets’ Expectation
Durant is expected to elevate the Rockets with consistent scoring and bona fide go-to guy when the postseason arrives.
“They had a great season last year, a lot of leadership,” Durant told Adams. “I felt like I’d be a good addition.”
That is an understatement.
Durant, the NBA’s no. 8 scorer all-time scoring leader, can fix the Rockets offensive woes, which Charania highlighted.
The Rockets ranked just 27th in effective field goal percentage on off-the-dribble jumpers and 24th in effective field goal percentage on all jumpers, according to GeniusIQ. The Rockets also ranked seventh in isolations per game this season but ranked just 27th in points per direct isolation.
By contrast, Durant is a potent shooter and still one of the best iso players in the league: He led the NBA in points per direct isolation among players to run 200 isolations this season, according to ESPN Research.
But Durant tempered expectations.
“We shall see,” he told Adams. We shall see. The [Rockets] had a great season, but all this stuff takes time and work and effort and execution, so we’ll see what happens.”
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