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Forget Kevin Durant, Houston Rockets GM is ‘ecstatic’ at another trade, he adds something ‘we don’t have’

Originally posted on NBA Analysis Network
By Vatsal Gupta | Last updated Jul 9, 2025 11:00 AM ET

The Houston Rockets mean serious business after getting bounced out in 2024/25 by the experience of the Golden State Warriors.

Despite having a better regular-season record, the experience of Stephen Curry and Co. proved to be too much for the Houston Rockets.

They addressed it immediately by adding Kevin Durant, a former Warrior and a bona fide superstar, engineering a remarkable seven-team trade.

While Durant will undoubtedly be the headliner in Houston this season, general manager Rafael Stone was ‘ecstatic’ at getting another deal through the lines.

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Houston Rockets ‘ecstatic’ at Clint Capela trade

In that seven-team trade where the Rockets gave away Jalen Green as the headliner, they didn’t just get Kevin Durant in return.

They also managed to get Clint Capela from the Atlanta Hawks in a sort of homecoming for the Swiss basketball star.

Funnily enough, when the Rockets traded away Capela in 2020, it was also a creative deal that involved four teams and 12 players.

Capela in 2025 is not the same player the Rockets traded away in 2020, since his game has declined a bit after earning sixth position in the Defensive Player of the Year rankings in his first season for the Hawks.

However, as per Rafael Stone, he gives the Rockets something they didn’t have before.

Stone said, “We love that lineup [with Clint Capela]. We discovered it last year and thought it was really effective for us. Also, Clint just adds something we don’t have in terms of a center who can move a little bit on the perimeter, who is a lob threat.

“Vitally, we think that’s super important. We did not anticipate going into free agency that we would be able to get Clint, but we’re ecstatic that it materialized.”

Rockets are planning for the Oklahoma City Thunder

It is true for every team in the NBA that they are planning to beat the team that won the title recently, but the Rockets are uniquely placed in doing so.

Much like the Thunder, they are a young team with a lot of upside and energetic players, but they missed that little bit of poise and versatility.

With Durant, they’ve added poise, and as Stone said, Capela adds a versatile option on both ends of the floor.

The Thunder’s success was built on wing-stoppers and players who played much bigger than they physically were, so the Rockets have just added another 6’10” center to a roster that already had Alperen Sengun, Steven Adams, Amen Thompson, and Dorian Finney-Smith, among others.

It looks like Durant did it again. The Rockets will be a problem next season.

This article first appeared on NBA Analysis Network and was syndicated with permission.

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