Well, well, well, that didn’t take long. Mr. Grass is Always Greener Kevin Durant, who came to the Houston Rockets just last season, is already gazing longingly at another franchise and potential teammate, as Brett Siegel of Clutch Point is reporting that Durant has a desire to go to Detroit and play with Cade Cunningham. In addition, apparently the Rockets do not view Durant as untouchable and are more than willing to trade him if the right offer comes around (come on, Detroit).
Siegel said:
“Whether
or not the Rockets look to continue their partnership with Durant is the big question at large, especially since they don’t view him as an untouchable talent in trade talks on their roster, Houston viewed the opportunity to acquire Durant as a way to upgrade from Jalen Green and bridge the gaps in their lineup to contend in the West, but by no means was this addition viewed as a long-term commitment.
“Many around the league are skeptical of the Rockets wanting to keep Durant through the end of his current contract running through the 2027-28 season, It isn’t a secret to anyone that there were tensions between Durant and the Rockets’ locker room last season after reports of an alleged burner account came to light and frustrations were mounting internally about the team not taking a step forward with the former league MVP at the helm.”
As for the wish for Cade, Siegel said this:
“If Durant becomes available in any capacity or the Rockets look at possible trades involving him either now or in the near future, the Pistons are fully expected to be at the front of the line to bid on his services.”
“Two league sources with knowledge of the situation told ClutchPoints that the Pistons were set on figuring out a path to land Durant, but nothing ever materialized in this three-team idea, nor did anything appear possible in brief discussions with only Houston. Perhaps the greatest detail to emerge from all of these rumors is that Durant has interest in playing alongside Pistons star Cade Cunningham.”
Does any of this sound familiar? It’s the same old story, same old song and dance for Durant. Never happy anywhere, it’s always everyone else, and this morning’s KD dump smelled like candy and roses.
Last year, it was playing with Alperen Sengun that was going be good for KD. It took all of one season for us to hear about Durant flirting with the next girl (sorry, Cade).
As far as I am concerned, the sooner KD hits the road, the sooner the Rockets can get back to building a team for the present and the long term, and not a collection of guys standing around and watching KD throw his arms up in the air and act all exasperated when he doesn’t get the ball or the shot. Or the Rockets standing around and watching KD go to work. Either way, the team stands around and watches KD, and that’s not good for anyone but Durant, which we all know is KD’s only concern, but that wasn’t the temperament of this team before he got here, despite the fact there have been too few offensive sets in both the before and after KD scenarios.
Some of this does indeed fall on Ime Udoka for not having an offensive gameplan and for not stepping in to address the locker room concerns, but anyone who doesn’t think there have been chemistry issues since the burner scandal just hasn’t been paying attention.
This team lost more than just Dillon Brooks and Jalen Green when they traded for Durant, they lost their identity. Most of you know that I was against the KD move at the time, warmed up to it slightly through the first 20 games or so when the Rockets started off 15-5, then went to — trade KD at all costs.
We all know KD is gonna KD, and if there’s one thing we should have learned with Durant after all these years and all the nonsense that comes along with rostering him is that where there is KD smoke, there is almost always fire.
And honestly, as far as I am concerned, if there’s fire with KD, Cade and the Pistons, that’s the best news of the offseason.
