Houston Rockets’ perfect move in 2025 NBA offseason

It was only a matter of time before Durant became available for trade. The Phoenix Suns missed the postseason entirely last season, which is quite an embarrassment for them especially after they mortgaged their future to build their ill-fated trio of Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal.

With Durant entering his age-37 season, it was rather unlikely for him to stay with a team that had no shot at competing for a title next season. And the Suns wanted to move on from him as well, trying to recoup as much value as possible for Durant to try and set themselves up for a better future.

This desperation from the Suns paved the way for the Rockets to acquire Durant in such a favorable deal. Sure, the Rockets had some competitors, with the San Antonio Spurs and Miami Heat also in the mix for the future Hall of Famer, but Houston had so many assets that they could part ways with that it made trading away a valuable member of their young core in Jalen Green that much easier.

Seriously, the Rockets managed to acquire Durant, who averaged 27/6/4 last season on 53/43/84 shooting splits, just by giving up Green, Dillon Brooks, the 10th overall pick of the 2025 NBA Draft (Khaman Maluach), and five second-round picks. For such a huge, immediate upgrade, giving up just those assets when the Suns (in theory) could have gotten more is a major win for Houston.

Durant is a master at scoring in the halfcourt. Even at 37 years of age, he’s one of the best bucket-getters in the league. Last year, Durant was one of the most efficient isolation scorers in the NBA, scoring 1.16 points per possession on such plays. For reference, Green scored just 0.86 points per possession in isolation, and so did Alperen Sengun — the Rockets’ two main offensive weapons last year.

The Rockets had such a brickfest last season; they ranked 23rd last year in effective field-goal percentage (52.3) and 24th in true shooting (55.3). They relied so much on their dominance on the offensive boards to produce so much of their offense, but Durant’s brilliance in the halfcourt removes so much of the pressure for them to crush the opposition on the glass.

Durant is a real injury risk, and at 37, he’s at risk of a decline more than ever. But Durant is showing no signs of slowing down. And the Rockets can definitely afford to give Durant plenty of days off, considering how stacked the roster is around him.

This was a no-brainer trade that all general managers in the NBA make 10 times out of 10, and the Rockets, as a result, will be entering next season as one of the top-five favorites to win the Larry O’Brien trophy.

Farewell, Jalen Green

The Rockets deemed Green to be a franchise-altering talent when they selected him with the second overall pick of the 2021 NBA Draft. But while Green has been a good NBA player and will presumably get better especially when he’s just 23 years of age, letting go of him in the Durant trade is the right call.

Green has shown some explosive scoring ability, but his production is very inconsistent. This was made very apparent during the playoffs when Green wilted under the bright lights, faltering against the Golden State Warriors in a seven-game series defeat. He did have a 38-point game against them, but in the six other games, he averaged 9.2 points on 31.1 percent shooting from the field.

This would be a different story if he was a more efficient scorer during the regular season. But he’s hovered around the 54 percent true shooting mark for his entire career. That is the second-worst mark among players who averaged 20 points or more this past season, better than only LaMelo Ball.

Green also took over 21 shots per game last year, and those shots will now be redistributed to Durant, a much more efficient scorer. Durant might average around 30 points if he gets the same number of shots that Green does.

Sure, Green could have been around for 10 more years. Durant, meanwhile, may not play for more than five more seasons. But the Rockets know that their title-contending window is wide-open, and they are taking advantage of it. Durant gives them the better shot to win a title, for sure.

Houston thought of everything

Letting go of Brooks takes away one ace perimeter defender from the Rockets. But Houston did sign Finney-Smith to help cover for his departure. Finney-Smith is not the on-ball defender that Brooks is, but he commands fewer shots than Brooks does, which would allow the Rockets to give more attempts to their most efficient scorers.

The 10th overall pick of the 2025 NBA Draft would have complicated the Rockets’ roster logjam, so letting go of it in the Durant trade instead of developing another youngster, especially when they’re in win-now mode, shouldn’t hurt much. Capela was brought in anyway, so drafting Maluach (or another big man) with the 10th pick would have been overkill.