The Houston Rockets have a “mutual interest” with Phoenix Suns star Kevin Durant, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported on Wednesday.
“Back at the NBA trade deadline, there was a list of teams that there was mutual interest with Kevin Durant,” Charania said on “The Pat MacAfee Show” on Wednesday. “Those teams, from my understanding, are Minnesota, that’s New York, Houston, San Antonio and Miami.
“Those are the types of teams, from my understanding, that had interest then, and I expect them all to be in the mix this offseason. But the biggest thing to keep an eye on for all NBA fans and fans of those teams is: How does your team finish in the playoffs? How do the playoffs go? Because that’s going to really determine who feels like they’re a Kevin Durant away.”
Durant rejected a midseason reunion with the Golden State Warriors, where he won his two NBA titles and Finals MVP awards, to finish the season in Phoenix. But the Suns’s season turned for the worse. They are 1.5 games outside of the play-in tournament with the toughest schedule remaining.
Rockets Angling For Suns Blockbuster Trade
The Rockets are keeping tabs not only on Durant’s status in Phoenix but also on Devin Booker, according to Sam Amick of The Athletic. But Booker is untouchable, according to an ESPN story published on March 14.
“It is now opening the door for anything and everything to be a possibility in Phoenix,” Amick said on “Run It Back” on FanDuel TV on March 3. “…We know the Houston’s of the world have been looking at Devin Booker and KD.”
The Rockets have control of three of the Suns’ next three picks.
Rockets coach Ime Udoka has previously worked with Durant in Brooklyn as an assistant coach during the 2020-21 season. They came a Durant-foot-stepping-into-the-3-point-line away from the Eastern Conference Finals.
Rockets’ Patient Approach is Paying Off
The Rockets’ future moves are tied largely to how this season shakes out for their young core.
Rockets general manager Rafael Stone went on record that he will evaluate this team at the end of the season.
“Of course, my job is to be open to everything, so I’m not going to not do my job,” Stone said on SiriusXM’s NBA Radio on Dec. 10. “We like this team. We definitely do not intend to change anything, and I would be shocked if something changes this season.”
The Rockets were the third seed in the Western Conference when Stone made these comments.
“We like where we’re at,” Stone continued. “We want to continue to develop our guys, full stop. Will I listen to other teams? Of course I will, that’s my job. But again, there’s no part of me, there’s no part of our decision-making process that suggests that we’re looking to do anything big now or in the near term.
“We definitely want this group to be as good as it can be this year and then we’ll evaluate things at the end of the year,” Stone added. “But the hope is very much that this core group can lead us to where we want to go and that – from a transactional perspective – we’re largely done.”
Their patience is paying off as the Rockets have jumped to the No. 2 seed with less than two weeks left in the regular season.
Suns ‘Will Work’ With Kevin Durant in Future Trade
The Suns started their difficult three-game road trip with a 133-123 loss to the Damian Lillard-less Milwaukee Bucks without Durant, who stayed behind in Phoenix to rehab his sprained left ankle.
They are likely missing the postseason as they are 1.5 games out of the play-in tournament with the toughest remaining schedule, per Tankathon.
“So you look at this from a macro perspective,” Charania said on “The Pat McAfee Show. “We’ve seen from Mat Ishbia the last two and a half years how aggressive he’s been. He is not spared any expenses. He’s clearly showing that, as an NBA owner, he’s willing to take multiple swings. He wants to take millions of swings at the bat to try to win a championship.”
The Suns entered the season with high expectations on Year 2 of the Durant-Booker–Bradley Beal Big 3 experiment. With less than two weeks left in the regular season, they resemble a lottery team except that their first-round pick in this year’s draft is heading to the second-seed Houston Rockets.
“From a wholistic perspective, there’s going to be changes coming to Phoenix, barring a miracle finish to the year,” Charania continued. “There’s going to be a lot of that. They’re going to have to look at, to evaluate throughout the organization, from a roster perspective. That’s going to start with Kevin Durant and potentially finding him a new home. Unlike at the trade deadline, when he was almost traded to the Warriors, the Suns and Kevin Durant would work together on any trade.”
Will the 15-time All-Star Durant force his way to Houston in the offseason?
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