Kevin Durant trade grades: Did the Suns get fair value from the Rockets?
Kevin Durant has been traded to the Houston Rockets, ESPN's Shams Charania reported Sunday, dropping some major breaking news just before the NBA gets set to crown a champion later in the evening.
The Phoenix Suns are getting back a package of picks and players, settling on the deal from Houston as the apparent best of what they were presumably offered by Durant's other preferred destinations, including Minnesota, Miami, New York and San Antonio, which was reportedly No. 1 on his list.
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Instead, the former league MVP lands in another Texas city, in what will be his third team in the last five years. Let's breakdown how Houston and Phoenix each fared in this deal.
STARTING FIVE: Projected Rockets starting lineup after KD deal
Details of the deal
ROCKETS GET: Kevin Durant
SUNS GET: Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, No. 10 pick in 2025, 5 second-round picks
ROCKETS GRADE:
The Rockets were able to add one of the premier scorers in league history without giving up either of their two best building blocks in Alperen Sengun and Amen Thompson. That's a win.
Though Jalen Green was their leading scorer at 21 points per game, it came on his typical low shooting efficiency of 42 percent. The 36-year-old Durant far exceeded his production at 26.6 points on 52 percent shooting and 43 percent from three.
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The loss of Dillon Brooks will hurt Houston's perimeter defense a bit, but it was necessary to make the money work and that's a loss you'll gladly accept to add a player like Durant to a team that had one of the best defenses but was middle of the road offensively (and downright bad in the playoffs). Not to mention, Brooks' departure will help clear a spot int he rotation for last year's first-round pick Reed Sheppard.
Durant's age and availability going forward are a small concern, but you can't fault the Rockets for a taking a swing like this after emerging as the No. 2 seed in the West last season.
Grade: A-
SUNS GRADE:
The Suns were seemingly handcuffed by Durant's leverage to choose his destination, limiting them to about five teams they could negotiate with, so you have to assume this was the best package they could get. Considering the cirumstances, it's not awful.
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The No. 10 pick in this year's draft should help them land a young player with real upside to help continue building out a team around Devin Booker, and Jalen Green still has a ton of upside as a career 20-point scorer who's only 23 years old.
Still, you won't be able to argue they got better by losing Durant, which was never a reality. Adding two perimeter players doesn't make a ton of a sense for a team that already has Booker and Bradley Beal -- unless they plan to move Beal next (which won't be easy). Especially when neither of those perimeter players is a point guard. It's nice to have the Durant stuff behind them, but considering what they gave up to get him (Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, four first-round picks), this was a major step backwards.
Grade: C-
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Kevin Durant trade grades: Did Suns get fair value from the Rockets?
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