Ex-Rockets Listed as Two of Suns' Most Important Players

The offseason trade that sent Kevin Durant to the Houston Rockets was a major win for the Rockets' braintrust. They'd been on the prowl for a surefire superstar and were able to nab one of the league's best scorers historically for a relatively low cost of Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, and the 10th pick of the 2025 NBA Draft (which they formerly owned).

The Suns were in a difficult spot, as they had a hefty tax bill, due to the conglomerate of salaries owed to Durant, Bradley Beal, and Devin Booker. Yet despite the assembling of talent on the roster, they failed to make the play-in tournament. 

Not the playoffs, the play-in tournament. 

Phoenix essentially was forced to enter a soft rebuild, while adding around Booker. According to Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic, Green and Brooks will be two of the Suns' most important players this season. 

"Green is the guy with All-Star talent.

Averaging 20.1 points in his four NBA seasons, the second overall pick in the 2021 draft is explosive, finishes around the rim and shot a career-best 35.4% from 3 last season. Green is also durable, as he played all 82 games in the 2023-24 and 2024-25 regular seasons.

The Suns need him on the floor to take some of the offensive burden off Booker, especially if he’s going to be a primary ball handler.

Green’s shown the ability to make good decisions, even though it didn’t result in a high assist average (3.4 a game last season)." 

Rankin noted the need for Green to morph into a formidable defender, citing Rockets coach Ime Udoka’s tendency to sub him out when the Rockets needed to get stops. The other player sent to Phoenix, Brooks, doesn't pose that problem, as pointed out by the senior writer.

"Brooks gets after it on defense as he can guard multiple positions. He’s a winner, too."

Rankin continued to shower Brooks with praise. 

"He’s going to be a fan favorite right away.

Brooks is intense, plays hard and is physical and edgy. He knocks down 3s — shot a career-best 39.7% from distance on a career-high 6.3 attempts. That’s rare. Shooting percentages tend to fall when attempting more shots."

Brooks' 3-point shooting will be drastically missed in Houston, which feels shocking to type. The Grizzlies' version of Brooks was not a good long-range shooter. In fact, he was a below average shooter, especially in his final two seasons (30.9 percent on 4.7 attempts in 2021-22 and 32.6 percent on six attempts in 2022-23).

In fact, he shot a dismal 23.8 percent on seven long-range attempts in the Grizzlies' 2023 opening-round postseason series against the Los Angeles Lakers. 

Brooks re-established his value in Houston, showing the ability to play within the offense (which was his biggest knock in Memphis, as he wanted more scoring opportunities), while also helping to establish a culture.

The latter is important for a young, rebuilding team like the Rockets' version that Brooks joined in 2023.

The Suns find themselves in a similar situation in 2025-26 and beyond and could use Brooks' professionalism off the court and relentless drive and work ethic.