Rockets acquire Suns picks, return Nets picks to Brooklyn

I get the nets don't make the bridges trade without getting their picks back but it would be so funny having the suns pick and they finally start playing well(KD out for a couple of weeks doesn't hurt)

 

for the first time this season the rockets would move up in the draft with the suns pick swap.

 

On the Bridges trade, I think they make that even without their picks. They probably work harder to fill out their roster with better players with the trade, but the Nets easily won the Bridges trade from a value standpoint.

I think the Suns might be in a world of hurt over the next month or so if Durant doesn't come back healthy and good soon. the Suins have been incredibly fortunate to not have a worse record.

 

• [Charania] "[Durant] loves being in Phoenix, we love having him," Ishbia told ESPN. "He's off to an amazing start this season -- one of the MVP leaders -- and we're off to a very good start. We expect Kevin to sign an extension, be with us for the long term. We hope he finishes his career here"

 

Really not sure how to take this. Could just be owner puffing smoke. I don't think keeping Durant is the right move for them. Durant would weaken the 2027 pick, but man the 2029 pick would be golden.

 

Was looking at the Rockets draft situation a bit ago and hot damn that's a mess. The way I boiled it down was like this-

2025
-Crappy 1st round pick this year (likely OKC's pick... maybe... )
-No 2nd rounder

2026
-No 1st round pick (last obligation from the crappy Westbrook trade)
-2 second round picks

2027
-Our First round pick (with rights to swap with BKN)
-Phoenix 1st rounder
-1 second round pick

2028
-Our first round pick only

2029
-1 first round pick (could be ours, Dallas, or Phoenix's)

2030
-Our first round pick only

....

Correct me if I'm wrong, and no I don't need the full breakdown of the swaps. I see those and its confusing as hell.

If we were to do a superstar trade this season it looks like we technically have 5 picks to trade but could only trade 4 of them because of the consecutive year rule. I'm a little concern with our ability to add good young talent through the draft if we do any sort of star level trade. I think the flops with TyTY, Garuba, and Christopher were kind of killers because in a normal world even if you had to move 3 first round talents that early you'd at least be able to restock the shelf a bit better with late 1st rounders, and a bunch of 2nd rounders. What we have here is the remnants of the James Harden trade, and the crappy CP3 Westbrook trade haunting us.

So long story short, Jalen, Bari, Tari, Sengun, Amen, etc. better work out.

 

I do think the question is how serious are the Rockets about contending this year and next year......

If they are ambitious, then they would at least make a run at Booker, Durant, Giannis, Markkanen, MPJ etc.

Taking a peek at Zion.

No matter how various fan sections riot about tearing apart the young core.....

 

2025 Will likely be Phoenix pick and they are probably a play in team (50% crappy, 50% 13th or 14th pick)
2029 2 picks (best 2 of ours, Dallas, Phoenix).

 

NBA Future Drafts Detailed - RealGM

2025 - OKC has the option to swap for our pick (protected 1-10) or the Clippers', whichever is better. We then have the option to swap our pick for the Sun's pick. Too early to make any certain predictions, but as of today's standings OKC would swap for the Clippers pick and we would swap for Phoenix's.

2029 - We have two first round picks. We get the best two picks out of Dallas, Phoenix, and our own.

Honestly, I'm feeling pretty good about the 2027 Phoenix pick. Durant is 36 years old and Phoenix cannot compete without him. Beal is 31 and already on the decline. Feeling okay about the Brooklyn swap too. They want to tank but their team is still too competitive, so they'll need to keep offloading veterans. Not sure they will completely rebuild by 2027. 2029 is just too far off to predict anything.

We need our prospects to work out regardless, but we have lots of potentially high draft capital.

 

Defintely agree Durant probably isn't too good for the 2026-2027 season. Suns just have no way to replace him (maybe have MLE or ~$10M in cap space) such that they are absolutely toast in 2027 if they don't keep him. I'm not even sure he will be healthy enough this year to get the Suns to the playoffs.

 

If they aren't contenders these next two seasons I find it hard to believe they'll re-sign him for the 26-27 season at 38 years old. And Durant could decide to play elsewhere even if they want to keep trying with their current core. They'll be at a real crossroads in the summer of 2026 which is why I'm optimistic about the 2027 pick. But who knows? KD could show Lebron like longevity and they could continue to compete like the Lakers have so far.

 

Durant was relatively healthy last sleep for the first time in 5 seasons. I wouldn’t be surprised if he returns to the mean this season.

 

I confess I am not the sharpest tool in the shed but I still dont get this trade.

 

dumb trade. Helped Brooklyn for no reason.

 

agreed. We didn’t get enough. I continue to be skeptical of Stone’s ability to make good trades.

 

The idea behind it was good but the execution was poor

 

We’re barely able to play Reed and some of yall are seriously confused about why we made this trade?

 

because Reed isn't good enough. that has nothing to do with the trade. Hypothetically speaking, if we landed Cooper Flagg, do you think he wouldn't be able to break into the rotation and get real mins?

 

Whatever pick they get this year, they should definitely consider trading it for a proven player

 

Proven