Kevin Durant has his next destination, and yet another chance to prove his place in the game

Yahoo

3 hours ago

It was clear Kevin Durant's days in Phoenix were numbered and even more clear the Houston Rockets were in need of a No. 1 offensive option after falling in the first round as a No. 2 seed.
The Rockets were the one team in the Durant sweepstakes that had the draft capital and existing talent that would be attractive in a trade, and upon first blush it doesn't seem like it took a lot to get a future Hall of Famer — a late 30s historic player, but a historic player nonetheless.
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Durant heads off again, staying in the West, and will team with Amen Thompson, Alperen Şengün and so many other young players and vets with the hope the Rockets will be playing on this day a year from now.
Leave it to Durant to steal Oklahoma City's thunder on the day it could win its first championship — it's kind of poetic if not cruel.
But for Houston, it feels like a no-brainer.
Shipping off Jalen Green, who struggled in the playoffs and wasn't the most consistent performer even before the lights got bright, Dillon Brooks, the No. 10 pick in the coming draft and five future seconds feels light considering how great Durant still is.
Things didn't work out for Kevin Durant in Phoenix. (Photo by)
(Chris Coduto via Getty Images)
There are many ways to look at this, given that Houston didn't have to put more into the trade (of course, the money would've had to match given the CBA implications): Was the market for Durant that depressed because his teams have largely underachieved in the last few years? Or did Houston merely have the ultimate come-up, a steal of a deal for a player who's still got a few good years left in his body and the organization was willing to press the fast-forward button on team development because opportunities like this don't come around often?
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Miami and San Antonio, the other teams on Durant's list, clearly didn't press all their assets to the table, and you wonder if they were worried about Durant's future or even if his affect on winning isn't as great as it used to be.
For someone who's still a top-10 player, there wasn't an outright bidding war, and you have to wonder why. He did average 26.6 points on 52.7% shooting (43% from 3) while adding 6 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.2 blocks per game.
Does he drive winning or merely influence it? The Rockets didn't have those concerns, but the answer will bear out next season.
But fortune favors the bold, and the Rockets made a beautiful move — one would assume this will come with a two-year extension for Durant, who's entering the final year of his contract next season.
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These NBA Finals have shown us even 68-win teams can be pressed to the limit, and perhaps the Rockets see a path to accelerate to the Finals by adding Durant. Sometimes the drama can be overblown, but even if it does seem to follow him, consistency in performance drowns out the noise.
He's not just one of the league's historic scorers, because that would indicate past tense. He's still one of the best at getting his shot when you need a bucket, still a threat to hit the 50-40-90 club again — most recently during the 2022-23 season when he was traded from Brooklyn to Phoenix.
The nomadic nature of his career obscures his individual excellence, and it's a risk the Rockets are willing to take. The Suns were Durant's preferred destination the last time he wanted out, and it's been nothing but dysfunction since.
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How much of that is Durant or is he a bystander in the circumstances? It doesn't appear that he's an active agent of chaos and there's probably only but so much he could've done in his last two situations.
In Brooklyn, he couldn't have been expected to wrangle Kyrie Irving and James Harden when relationships with the franchise went sour for various reasons. In Phoenix, owner Mat Ishbia appears to suffer from 'new owner syndrome' — firing coaches after a year and bringing in several members of the org with Michigan State ties.
Ishbia's learning curve was accelerated by bringing in Durant days upon taking over, and it's not unheard of. The Bradley Beal trade, however, crippled the franchise because it can't get off his contract due to the no-trade clause that got him to Phoenix in the first place.
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The Suns are the cautionary tale of this new collective bargaining agreement, of going so deep into the second apron that all options to improve the team are limited. After an 8-1 start to the season, it was apparent they rolled snake eyes on the Beal trade and on head coach Mike Budenholzer, and that Durant wouldn't be long given how little time he has left in his basketball body.
It's hard to see where the Suns go from here. They lost draft capital in trading for Durant, so perhaps they'll flip Green or Brooks to a third team, given their glut of shooting guards with incumbent star Devin Booker and Beal still on the roster.
For Durant, he's not too dissimilar from fellow graybeards Stephen Curry and LeBron James in the desire to play meaningful basketball as their careers wind down, but he's never appeared as desperate as James nor as steadfast as Curry as far as wanting to do it in one jersey.
Joining with Thompson is intriguing. The two-year vet is one of the unique talents in the league — an athletic marvel who loves to play defense and is ornery as all hell, but doesn't have the offensive package No. 1 options possess.
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That's where Durant can step in and alleviate pressure from all the youngsters who were blinded by the bright lights against the Golden State Warriors in Round 1 of these playoffs. They had to hear the cheers in the hallways of the Toyota Center as the veteran team knew just how to outlast and outwit them, because they didn't have the sweat equity, shotmaking or experience to win.
That changes with Durant as well as their own scars from that series. Head coach Ime Udoka will not let them forget it, not for a second.
Udoka's leadership perhaps allows Durant to come in and 'just hoop,' as he frequently claims. Durant has to fight off the notion he's 'not a leader' and hopefully for his sake the infrastructure in Houston won't call for him to be uncomfortable vocally.
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It doesn't always appear Durant welcomes expectations, but every team he has selected since leaving Golden State in 2019 had the label of contender because of Durant's mere presence.
It's no different in Houston, even if it's far too early to crown any team the favorite for next season given the summer hasn't begun. (Although oddsmakers are doing their best.)
Durant has his next town, another restart, another chance to shake free of whatever's chasing him. Perhaps Houston is his last stop.
Or maybe it's just his next stop.