Shams on Pat McAfee show saying Rockets and Kevin Durant had mutual interest in trade

Nope

 

Durant is such an amazing shooter and scorer. The guy is a phenom of shooting. A sharp shooting 7 foot tall player!!! But age is catching up to his body. He seems to lacks a pep to his step; one that was there just a few years ago.

Nevertheless, he does not seem to have the dawg mentality that Ime demands from his players. Simply put, Durant may be too old to go through the grinds of getting back to the grittier side of his playing abilities.

It’s very cool that rumor has it that Houston would be amongst his ideal destinations in a trade. But I am happy and intrigued by this current unit. Plus there seems to be great pick options with the Phoenix future draft compensation. Hence a real possibility that help comes via the draft, vs free agency.

 

Good. Suns have no leverage at all. Other NBA teams know the Beal situation puts them over the barrel.

Also Durant has been perpetually disgruntled in his career and by most accounts is not a locker room builder.

 

*IF* I were Pheonix
I'd trade KD for FVV Jabari and picks
*IF* I were the Rockets I would fight to keep Jabari off the list

FVV Beal Booker Jabari <any center>
would be at least a 5th seed in the West IMO

Rocket RIver

 

imagine a more talented Unc Jeff

Rocket RIver

 

Rockets can't afford to lose Fred without another veteran ball handler.

 

He will definitely have to be replaced.
The biggest issue with Fred for me is the money
How much of our Cap will he hold

He needs a DEPRECIATING contract
If he gets 30 his first year . .. it has to be less each additional year

Rocket River

 

This is actually a good point I haven't seen other people mention. Can KD's body at age 37 even tolerate playing with the kind of physicality and hustle Udoka demands from his players? We've talked about how his age makes him more injury-prone, but not how that could be exacerbated by our style of play.

 

Agreed. Stone needs to show us a backup plan that can pair with Sheppard

 

With the KD thing, I can’t ignore all the recent cautionary tales about teams signing aging vets only to have those contracts look absolutely terrible a year later. The Embid extension, the Paul George contract, the Kawhi contract, the Middleton contract; even the Jeremy Grant contract, which I know for a fact Portland regrets. Then you have Jimmy Butler contract, which is less painful because it’s short, but still not great having two more years totaling over $100 mil. Then you have the DeRozen contract which is pretty reasonable; two more yrs at $25 mil per. It’s hard for me to stomach Fred making $20 mil more than DeRozen (who is still averaging over 20 pts a game).

So my point is, I have no idea what kind of extension KD would demand, but I suspect the team he gets traded to will work out some sort of extension. The amount of yrs matters. 2 more years of max KD seems okay ala the Jimmy Butler contract. But 3 more yrs of max KD seems like a risk one shouldn’t take.

How much you give up for KD is one thing; how long you extend KD for is another. The worst case scenario is giving up too much AND giving him too many yrs on the extension. But that may be part of the competition to get him.

I can’t go more than 2 yrs, and I wouldn’t want to trade any of our young players except Cam (who I’m sure would absolutely blow up somewhere else). KD is gonna have to play hardball with Ishbiah for the rockets to get him for a reasonable price.

 

If we were to trade for him, I would think of him as a 1 year rental with the possibility for more. I wouldn't give him more than 1 guaranteed year at a time honestly. Maybe some kind of weird mutual option deal like they occasionally do in MLB (either party can opt out)--giving us the ability to get out of the deal at any time, and KD the option to leave for another contender if he doesn't like the fit or how things are working out.

So, whatever we would give up for 1 year of a 37-year-old KD should be the maximum we're willing to trade.

The only way I would extend him for more than 1 year at a time would be if it were WELL below the max, like around half of what he's eligible to be paid. In that case, maybe I'd do two years.

 

Dude
If he came here. . .. he needs to be gone after the 2nd year
PERIOD . He wants more than that .. . he can kick rocks
and
I have advocated for him coming here
but only at bargain prices

That Said .. .we have our KD . . .his name is Jabari but he lacks confidence
He can be 75% of what KD is . .. that is a win

Rocket River

 

Chris Broussard made an interesting point on first things first. He said Durant is no longer in his prime, because there’s no way a prime Kevin Durant misses the playoffs or fail to even make the play in.

 

What of their pick ends up being top 5…

 

FYI: Yesterday, April 3rd, 2025, Bill Simmons mentioned that Kevin Durant (KD) expressed a desire to play for the minimum salary for the team he wants to play for.

Rocket River

 

If that's true at all, I cannot imagine that would be us. He probably wants to play for the Lakers or something. But if it somehow was, that would change things a bit.

 

Who makes his list?

Warriors - No
Lakers - Maybe but I think its a No - he would be very criticized there
Knicks - Big Money - but if people think IME is hard on players. . . imagine him in Thibbs' system
Miami? - i don't see it
OKC - See the Lakers
Nuggets - No
Spurs - maybe but they further away than us IMO
Dallas - Intriguing
Kings - nah
Portland - nah
Grizzlies - Nah
Atl - nah
Orlando - nah

I don't think there are that many ahead of us in the sweepstakes

Rocket River

 

The last time the Rockets traded young talent for an aging Phoenix all-star it didn't end that well..

 

Id love KD - if the price is right...

given his age, im not looking for (or payin for) prime KD...

i dont think hes going to be giving a productive 35+ mins a night going forward...

but a solid 20-30 minutes and that clutch closer - thats our primary need...

id be open to working somethin out - but nothin crazy... a prospect, a pick, some filler... what one might give for a 1 year rental,,,

unless they wanna put Booker on the table... then we can get more extravagant... lol

 

Honestly
If he can give a solid 20 an CLUTCH PLAY

That is all I really would want
When it's under 20 seconds and we need a basket - I currently trust him more than anyone currently on the team

Rocket River