How Durant trade has impacted Rockets' championship odds

Houston Rockets head coach Ime Udoka. Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

How Kevin Durant trade has impacted Rockets' championship odds

By Steve DelVecchio | Last updated Jun 22, 2025 8:10 PM ET

The Houston Rockets were unable to make it out of the first round of the playoffs this year, but oddsmakers are expecting things to be much different for the team with Kevin Durant now in the fold.

The Phoenix Suns agreed to trade Durant to the Rockets on Sunday in a blockbuster deal involving Dillon Brooks, Jalen Green and draft picks. Houston was able to keep much of its young core together, most notably Alperen Sengun and Amen Thompson.

Shortly after news of the trade surfaced, sportsbooks began releasing new championship odds for the Rockets, seeing a massive shift. As of Sunday evening, Houston had the second-best odds to win the 2026 NBA title behind only the Oklahoma City Thunder, according to DraftKings Sportsbook.

Since acquiring Kevin Durant, the Houston Rockets now have the second best odds to win the 2026 NBA Finals pic.twitter.com/44GDq5vR0Y
— DraftKings Sportsbook (@DKSportsbook) June 22, 2025

There has been plenty of debate over whether the Rockets gave up too much in the Durant deal, but the odds imply that the team has greatly improved. It remains to be seen if that will be the case.

The Rockets went 52-30 and earned the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference in their second season under head coach Ime Udoka. They lost to the Golden State Warriors in seven games in the opening round of the playoffs.

Durant will turn 37 in September and has suffered some significant injuries in his career, so his health will be a major question mark in Houston. If he can stay on the court and average something close to the 26.6 points per game he scored this season, the Rockets should be one of the better teams in the Western Conference with him.

Steve DelVecchio

Steve is a veteran writer who has covered a variety of sports and pop culture topics for more than 15 years. In addition to Yardbarker, his work has been featured on prominent digital publications including Larry Brown Sports, MSN and FOX Sports. The UConn graduate has published more than 40,000 stories and is one of the most experienced trending news writers in the country

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