NBA Mock Trade: Rockets Acquire Suns’ Kevin Durant

In the last few days, NBA trades have taken the sports world by storm. Superstar Luka Doncic has been sent to the Lakers, De’Aaron Fox has found a new home in San Antonio, and countless other players have been shipped cross-country in hopes of bettering other teams.

One of the biggest storylines has been the availability of Phoenix Suns’ forward Kevin Durant, one of the better players in the association.

Now at 36-years-old, Durant has played a few seasons for the Suns, mostly maintaining his elite production. Phoenix, however, hasn’t played up to par that a team with multiple stars should. So much so, that it’s made landing disgruntled Heat star Jimmy Butler their top priority. Financially that’s going to be a tall task, so the Suns are now reportedly fielding calls on Durant.

Per The Athletic, the Rockets and Mavericks were among teams to reach out recently on the superstar, and various reporters also mentioned Golden State’s curiosity, though Durant quickly shot that down.

With Houston reportedly having done its due diligence on Durant both in the past and present, let’s take a look at what a theoretical deal could look like between Houston and Phoenix:

Houston Rockets get: Kevin Durant

Phoenix Suns get: Dillon Brooks, Reed Sheppard, Jabari Smith Jr., 2025 Suns FRP, 2027 Suns FRP, 2029 Suns FRP Swap,

In this scenario, Phoenix bolsters its future with young prospects, gets its draft capital back, and Houston consolidates its depth for a superstar forward.

Back in late-June, the Rockets sent Brooklyn its picks back in order to grab future Suns firsts, reportedly so it could make a deal for Durant that much easier. Here, it sends those very picks back to Phoenix, along with Dillon Brooks for financial needs, and the No. 3 draft picks in 2024 and 2022 in Reed Sheppard and Jabari Smith Jr., respectively.

With this move, the Rockets could move up-and-coming guard Amen Thompson into their starting lineup for good, along with Durant, Jalen Green, Alperen Sengun and Fred VanVleet. Even better, it retains some depth with Tari Eason, Cam Whitmore, Steven Adams and more.

Phoenix grabs two budding youngsters at two different positions, and could then position itself as a franchise for a full-scale rebuild, opposed to continuing to occupy the middle-ground of the league.

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