The Houston Rockets are floated as one of the teams that makes sense for a Kevin Durant trade should the Phoenix Suns move him this offseason, The Arizona Republic’s Duane Rankin reported on Monday, March 10.
“Sources informed The Republic the most ideal return on a Durant trade is regaining three first-round picks and a young player as part of a multi-team deal tied to getting under the second apron,” Rankin wrote.
Rankin named Houston and San Antonio as two of the teams that “make sense as trade partners for first-round picks.”
The Rockets have acquired the Suns’ first-round picks in 2025, 2027 and 2029 before this season in a shrewd deal with the Brooklyn Nets, who re-acquired their picks from Houston in the James Harden trade to rebuild after they traded away Mikal Bridges to the New York Knicks.
At the time of the trade, former ESPN’s NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski reported they made this trade with an eye on a Durant trade.
The Suns have the chance to do what the Nets did — re-acquire their original picks from the Suns in exchange for Durant — for flexibility. They can either rebuild and completely tear it down, meaning they also trade Devin Booker and Bradley Beal , or re-trade them again for another star to pair with Booker and Beal.
Standing Pat at Trade Deadline
The Rockets stood pat at the trade deadline despite the Suns listening to offers for Durant because they wanted to see first what they have in their young nucleus led by Alperen Sengun , who signed a five-year, $185 million rookie extension, and Jalen Green , whose three-year, $106 million rookie extension is viewed as a trade chip . The poison pills of their contracts will be lifted on July 1.
Rockets general manager Rafael Stone went on record that he will evaluate this team at the end of the season.
“Of course, my job is to be open to everything, so I’m not going to not do my job,” Stone said on SiriusXM’s NBA Radio on Dec. 10 . “We like this team. We definitely do not intend to change anything, and I would be shocked if something changes this season.”
The Rockets were the third seed in the Western Conference when Stone made these comments.
“We like where we’re at,” Stone continued. “We want to continue to develop our guys, full stop. Will I listen to other teams? Of course I will, that’s my job. But again, there’s no part of me, there’s no part of our decision-making process that suggests that we’re looking to do anything big now or in the near term.
“We definitely want this group to be as good as it can be this year and then we’ll evaluate things at the end of the year,” Stone added. “But the hope is very much that this core group can lead us to where we want to go and that – from a transactional perspective – we’re largely done.”
Great Opportunity and Great Position
The Rockets (40-25) slipped to fifth with injuries to their key players. But they have won their last three games as they pulled within one game back of the No. 3 Los Angeles Lakers (40-23), who are without LeBron James for the next week or two with left groin strain.
There’s a great opportunity ahead of them to climb back in the standings and earn a homecourt advantage and make some noise in the playoffs.
If Durant will be available in the summer, the Rockets are in a great position to meet the Suns’ demands. But that will largely depend on Durant, who holds the leverage as he will enter the final season of his original four-year, $194 million contract he signed with the Brooklyn Nets before his trade to Phoenix.
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