Durant traded to Houston for Green, Brooks, #10 pick, and multiple 2nd rounders

They can have all the nutrasweet they want

 

Think about how many fewer technical fouls will be called on Rockets next season.

 

I do not even know how to feel about this trade. It is not sad at all to see Green being traded, but I am very concerned to see 37-year-old and injury-prone Durant playing for the Rockets. It is a big gamble, and hopefully it pays off.

 

More from ESPN on the cap ramifications of this move:

Adding Durant, and presumably signing him to an extension beyond 2025-26, will force difficult financial choices for Houston. Having signed center Steven Adams to a three-year, $39 million extension, the Rockets are already pushing the luxury tax this season. If they fill out their roster with players making the minimum, they're about $33 million below the projected luxury-tax line before addressing VanVleet. Houston holds a $44.9 million team option for the veteran point guard but could decline it in favor of a long-term deal that pays him less in 2025-26.

Paying a small amount of luxury tax this season wouldn't affect the Rockets much, but delaying the clock on the repeater tax could have huge ramifications down the road. Houston will get much more expensive once Thompson's rookie contract expires in 2027. The Rockets are surely penciling in a max deal for Thompson, while Eason and Smith are eligible for rookie extensions now. Meanwhile, Durant's salary could increase on an extension as he heads into his late 30s.

 

I mean if he can't we will just play zone.

 

The Rockets really did this in the past year........

1. Clinch the 2nd best record in the Western Conference and 4th best record overall
2. Sengun solidifies himself as All-Star and was only a few votes away from making an All-NBA team
3. Amen solidifies himself as a future star and makes All-Defense 1st team
4. Ime Udoka is a Coach of the Year finalist
5. Land future hall of famer Kevin Durant

Would you have believed it if someone told you all of this would happen last summer?

 

I think clinching the 2nd seed in the West is waaaayyyy going underrated and undertalked about

 

I’m still shocked that no team offered something crazy for Durant.

 

I just don't see many people who are critical of Durant's game. He is in the conversation for the best pure shooter and scorer ever. You can knock his age, health concerns, or even his status as a leader, but his game is *exactly* what this team needs. Buckets. Efficiency. Ungaurdable.

 

Stone isn’t stupid, he looked at the risks and saw that it was BETTER to take a chance with Durant at 37 rather than keep Jalen’s contract.

If Durant busts we have cap space and flexibility. He obviously came to a conclusion that the worst possible outcome with Durant would be better than keeping JGs contract for another 3 years.

 

Now that the dust settles I want to mention that none of the values we got from doing this trade is worth talking about if we drafted a franchise altering, multi-year all NBA superstar at #2 in 2021.

 

And surrender to more 3s? I’m not saying this lineup won’t work defensively, I just wanna see if Jabari can take that next step.

 

KD, please make your burner account on Clutchfans

 

We traded two players with contracts we probably didn't want. Jalen Green had 3 years remaining on his contract ($35M/year) and Dillon Brooks has 2 years remaining on his ($20M/year). Both were nice players, but are the championship caliber starters? I'd say no... and it's clear that Jalen Green is not a championship caliber first option... and his style of play tends to demand being that first option on a team. So in addition to adding Durant, this trade likely represents addition by subtraction by shedding Green and Brooks... and I believe Sheppard + Whitmore can exceed Jalen Green's contributions even if Durant is injured.

Final point: Durant has won two NBA championships and four Olympic gold medals. He'll bring a valuable perspective to the locker room.

 

Why does everything default to Green with you? I made no mention of him yet you continue to talk about him? Very unhealthy obsession you have there. Perhaps homoerotic even because this isn’t normal. Which I don’t really care but you got to be honest with yourself.

 

"We shoulda traded our only Allstar and one of the only people who showed up every game against the Warriors" lol

 

The idea is that he turns the team into a 50 win team instead of 40 win team just off his offensive production. This is a fact. I could pull up ten games and show you, but it's easy enough to find on your own.