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Blockbuster Kevin Durant trade sets NBA record
Houston Rockets forward Kevin Durant. Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Blockbuster Kevin Durant trade sets NBA record

Kevin Durant has been a record-setting player during his 18-year career. Now he's made history again as part of the first seven-team trade in NBA history.

The Phoenix Suns and Houston Rockets agreed on June 22 to send superstar forward Durant to Houston in exchange for guard Jalen Green, forward Dillon Brooks, the No. 10 pick in the draft and five second-round picks. Since trades couldn't be finalized until July 6, that gave both teams the opportunity to expand the transaction to a historic size.

Thanks to the extra time, the Suns and Rockets folded in a number of unrelated transactions to their deal, which included Houston's signing of Atlanta Hawks center Clint Capela and a series of moves by teams in the second round of the draft, which included the Los Angeles Lakers moving up to draft Arkansas forward Adou Thiero, the Minnesota Timberwolves moving down for 7-foot-2 Australian center Rocco Zikarsky and the Brooklyn Nets scooping up two future second-round picks.

For the most part, this isn't what you could truly consider a seven-team trade. Aside from the Hawks swapping guard Daeqwon Plowden for forward David Roddy and picking up a second-round pick swap and cash, most of the elements of this trade are simply late-round deals agreed to on draft night.

It could have been an eight-teamer, but the Warriors are sending No. 59 pick Jahmai Mashack, a guard out of Tennessee, to the Memphis Grizzlies for No. 56 pick Will Richard, a guard out of Florida, in a separate deal. Because involving eight teams is just ridiculous.

The trend towards massive, multi-team deals is a function of the NBA's Collective Bargaining Agreement, which limits the use of sign-and-trades and creates so-called "hard caps" at the first and second luxury tax aprons. Folding all these deals into one can create trade exceptions and skirt some of those restrictions, beneficial enough that the Hawks and Wolves picked up cash for their participation.

The second-biggest NBA trade? Last year's six-team arrangement which saw the Warriors turn Klay Thompson's signing with the Dallas Mavericks into a trade that got them Buddy Hield and Kyle Anderson, while Minnesota also picked up cash and second-round picks for helping out.

It's not a great sign for the league that the transaction rules are so complicated that fans can hardly understand it and simple moves have to involve 23% of the teams in the league. But this is what commissioner Adam Silver and the owners wanted. 

There are more teams with cap space and far more potential free agents next summer, so don't be surprised if the seven-team record is swiftly broken.

Sean Keane

Sean Keane is a sportswriter and a comedian based in Oakland, California, with experience covering the NBA, MLB, NFL and Ice Cube’s three-on-three basketball league, The Big 3. He’s written for Comedy Central’s “Another Period,” ESPN the Magazine, and Audible. com

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