Analyst: Suns, Rockets Trade for Kevin Durant 'Doubtful'

Trade rumors surrounding Phoenix Suns star Kevin Durant are only heating up as we crawl closer to the conclusion of the 2024-25 NBA season, and one team consistently connected to the forward are the Houston Rockets.

Houston makes sense for a handful of reasons - their stockpile of future Suns draft picks, their need for a star and an overall desirable spot for Durant to land being the most notable.

It does feel as if Durant is on the way out, and Houston is surely one of the top teams who could land the Slim Reaper, though one analyst has doubts around the deal.

Rockets Wire's Ben Dubose recently appeared on the Yossi Gozlan podcast to address what he dubbed as the elephant in the room:

"Let’s address the elephant in the room with Kevin Durant. They expect the Suns to reach out to them for the obvious reason they have the picks and on paper there’s a fit, but it’s doubtful," he said (h/t HoopsHype).

"No one will rule it out, but it’s doubtful that the value will be in alignment in terms of what the Suns are looking for, what makes sense for them, and what the Rockets are willing to give up, both in terms of younger players or pick assets and also the matching salaries to get anywhere near KD’s 50-something million dollar salary for next year.

"They’ll kick the tires. they’ll do their due diligence but they really believe in this core and the timeline that they’re on. Obviously KD is going to be 37 next year and so that sort of goes in the same bucket in that sure, it sounds good on paper, they’ll do their due diligence, if the price is low enough, maybe you can’t rule it out. But they’re not going to bid aggressively when the floor is as high as it already is."

The Rockets might also be eying Devin Booker, which you can read more about here.

The Miami Heat and Minnesota Timberwolves are also rumored to be teams making a push for Durant this offseason.

Durant has one year left on his contract in Phoenix.