Kevin Durant Predicted to Join Houston Rockets With Expected Summer Trade Demand
The hectic NBA trade deadline week, which concluded February 6 at 3 p.m. Eastern Time, continues to send reverberations throughout the league, even as the schedule moves toward its traditional midpoint, the All-Star break. The All-Star game — or, this year, multiple games — wil take place in San Francisco on Sunday, with the schedule of regular league games wrapping up on Thursday and staying quiet until the following Wednesday, February 20.
For future Hall of Famer Kevin Durant of the Phoenix Suns, despite including the 14th All-Star appearance of his 17-year career, the week off will mean plenty of time to think about his future. According to a report by ESPN basketball expert and hostof the Hoops Collective podcast Brian Windhorst, Durant was “not happy he was put into trade talks” by the Suns last week.
Durant Earns $54.7 Million, Narrowing Trade Possibilities
His irritation at the situation, Windhorst predicted, will lead Durant to part ways with the Suns over the coming summer. Given that Durant still has one year left on his current contract at a salary of $54.7 million, that means Durant will need to demand a trade out of Phoenix — but the team will have limited options for accommodating him.
I would just say that the biggest thing Kevin Durant was upset about, I think, not knowing he was involved in trade talks,” Windhorst said on his podcast. “Generically, a star player of his level likes to be involved in trade talks. That was an issue. The thing about it was the Suns ended up not getting anything.”
Windhorst described Durant as “really frustrated” that he did not learn the Suns were trying to trade him until talks with other teams were already underway.
Durant was reportedly named as a piece in a blockbuster three-team trade package that would have brought disgruntled former Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler to Phoenix while sending Durant back to the Golden State Warriors, the team that brought him the only two NBA championships of his career in 2017 and 2018.
But Durant told Golden State that, for reasons that have not been made clear, he did not want to do a second tour of duty there. Though without a no-trade clause in his contract Durant had no real choice in the matter, the Warriors preferred not to force him to rejoin the team. Instead, they traded for Butler themseves.
Where could Durant end up, if he follows through on Windhorst’s prediction and shoots his way out of Phoenix? His, and the Suns’, options are limited by the difficulty of trading a player making Durant’s salary due to the number of teams currently over the “second apron” of the NBA collective bargaining agreement. Those teams are theBoston Celtics, Denver Nuggets and Milwaukee Bucks, as well as the Suns themselves.
Rockets Can Quickly Free Cap Space for Durant Trade
The Houston Rockets, however, appear to be a leading candidate to acquire Durant.
“No team gains more financial flexibility on the trade market than Houston this summer,” wrote CBS Sports NBA expert Sam Quinn on Monday, explaining that Houston can shed the salary of Fred VanVleet, who had a team option for next season, while “Jalen Green and Alperen Sengun both start their rookie extensions, meaning they can be traded at much higher cap figures, which removes the need for an unwieldy four- or five-for-one deal.”
Those moves could create the salary cap space that would allow Houston to add Durant’s veteran presence to their developing young core which is already making waves in the Western Conference. After finishing at 41-41 last season, the Rockets enter Monday with 33 wins already against just 20 losses, occupying the No. 4 seed in the West.
As for what Houston could offer for Durant? The Rockets own Phoenix’s first-round picks in 2027 and 2029, and could make those selections part of any deal.
