The history of the Houston Rockets is one of big swings.
Regardless of who’s in charge of the franchise, it’s rarely been afraid to trade assets for a big name. NBA superstars like Charles Barkley, James Harden, Tracy McGrady and Chris Paul were all acquired by the Rockets at one point or another. Now, you can add Kevin Durant to that list, too.
On Sunday, news broke that Durant, a former UT Longhorn, was picked up by Houston in a trade from the Phoenix Suns, bringing the sublime scorer back to Texas for the final year of his current contract.
Danielle Lerner, Houston Rockets beat reporter for the Houston Chronicle, spoke to the Texas Standard about how the move affects the team’s championship odds.
This transcript has been edited lightly for clarity:
Texas Standard: It was my understanding that Durant was thinking about maybe going back to Oklahoma City if they’d have him – maybe even the Spurs. But he had Houston on the short list, too. He’s always had a soft spot for Texas ever since he played at UT, right?
Danielle Lerner: Yeah, I think that’s part of it, but I think more so his attraction to the Rockets was because he has so many personal connections to their staff and to their roster.
He and Rockets coach Ime Udoka, they know each other very well. Udoka was an assistant coach on USA Basketball when Durant played, and then he was an assistant coach for the Nets during Durant’s All-Star season there a few years ago. So they have that connection.
And then Rockets assistant coach Royal Ivey, who also played at UT in the 2000s – but not at the same time as Durant, but those two were teammates together in Oklahoma City – they’re very, very good friends.
And then, of course, Durant has also played with Steven Adams in OKC. He’s also played with Jeff Green when they were both in Seattle. Basically numerous personal connections, and obviously the Rockets being on the upward trajectory that they are, that’s a very attractive destination.
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It’s sort of a homecoming on a lot of different levels, I guess you could say. But at the same time, you sort of wonder who won this trade, because as you mentioned, the Suns are trying to rebuild, and it just never really seemed like it gelled for KD with the Suns.
Now, you look at what happened with the Rockets this year: They lost a competitive first-round matchup against the Golden State Warriors. And, you know, I think the Rockets have been building up their defense. They needed someone on offense who could do the kind of things that Kevin Durant could do. I wonder if this was a big win for the Rockets.
I mean, hindsight is always 20-20 in these things, you know, the answer could change a few months down the road. But as of right now, yeah, I think the Rockets did the best deal that they could have for Durant.
You know, giving up Jalen Green was not something that they set out to do, but they were able to keep the rest of their young core intact. You’ve got Alperen Sengun, you’ve got Amen Thompson, you got Jabari Smith Jr., Tari Eason. Like that’s a big, big win. You’ve got Reed Sheppard and Cam Whitmore, both of whom are going to get a lot more playing time this upcoming season.
All in all, really, you have not dismantled what you have built over the last two years in this trade. And losing Dillon Brooks, he very much was a tone setter for everything the Rockets stood for: toughness, defense, just a veteran voice in the locker room. But when you look at it, it’s Kevin Durant – look at his body of work over 17 NBA seasons.
I think it’s a very good deal, and the Rockets also crucially did not have to give back two first-round draft picks that they got from the Suns: one in 2027, one in 2029. Not only is that kind of a haha, you didn’t get these back, but it insulates the Rockets from this rule the NBA has against trading draft picks in consecutive seasons, because now they have first-round picks in 2027, ’28, ’29, 2030 and 2032.
You just touched on something that I wonder about, and that is, he’s played 17 seasons of the NBA. This will be his 18th season coming up, 37 years old when the next season starts, his final year of his current contract. How good of a chance is there that he finishes his career as a Rocket, and what do you make of the age factor here?
I think that there definitely is a chance that he signs an extension with the Rockets, which he’s eligible to do starting July 6. He can do that at any point in this upcoming year. It doesn’t have to be done before the season starts.
So there’s a very good chance that does that, whether it’s for the maximum that he’s allowed, which is something to the tune of $122 million in two years, or if it’s something under that, remains to be seen.
But I think there is a very good chance that he does that, especially because we know Durant just loves to play ball. He loves to be playing on a good team.
This Rockets team, I think, can become a title contender with him this year – if not this year certainly next year – but I think this year. So I could definitely see him really not having to seek out anything else if things are going well here in Houston.
