The Kevin Durant trade was controversial.
Some felt that it was a no-brainer. You’re trading one of the least efficient volume scorers in the NBA, Dillon Brooks, and the 10th overall pick for one of the best scorers in NBA history.
If it feels too good to be true…
There were always reasons why Durant was available at that price. He’s a saboteur. It’s not directly basketball-related, although ultimately this is all about basketball. It’s just difficult to quantify how much a leaked group chat in which
a veteran leader says outrageously negative stuff about his teammates impacts what happens on the court.
It’s like gravity, time, or Wi-FI – you just know it’s there. Durant brought his bad juju to Houston, and the team has suffered the consequences. That doesn’t mean they need to trade him this summer:
That’s just one of many potential avenues.
Rockets have to make a decision
It’s strange. Durant has only suited up for one of the Rockets’ three games in these playoffs. Yet, his fingerprints are all over the series.
There’s been far too much emphasis on him. Where is he? Is he snubbing his teammates, or is he genuinely on an underwater bicycle getting around-the-clock treatment? All we can say with certainty is that when Durant hasn’t been playing, he hadn’t been on the Rockets’ bench supporting his teammates either until last night’s Game 4 victory.
And really, should we have expected anything less? I’m 39. Put me on a team full of 22-year-olds, and I am going to be the odd man out. Every time the numbers 6 and 7 are listed sequentially, a joke is made that almost everyone else in the locker room gets.
This, coupled with Durant’s off-court tendencies, was the source of the trepidation around the trade. The debate around X circles was whether this move was a “title or bust” move. It wasn’t:
But the next move could be.
Assuming the Rockets do not author the first 0-3 comeback in NBA history, this summer should be a crossroads for the organization. They will have several defensible decisions:
But staying the course won’t be one of them.
If you’re still buying the “this team is a contender with Fred VanVleet and Steven Adams” propoganda: Wake up. This team is getting manhandled by a Lakers squad that’s without Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves. Unless you think VanVleet and Adams are a better tandem than Doncic and Reaves, these playoffs are significantly weakening your logic.
So, the Rockets should make changes. That doesn’t mean they have to lean further into Durant. Trading him should be an option.
This can be an uncomfortable convergence of interests. Ownership doesn’t always want what’s best for the team. They want what’s best for the team’s financial forecast. Those are closely related, but ultimately different concepts.
What’s best for the team, arguably, is to flip Durant for as many future-focused (be it young players or draft picks) as possible. The Rockets should be content to tread water until they’ve at least blown through their potential Nets and Suns lottery picks in 2029.
If ownership vetoes that option, the next-best move is to go for Giannis Antetokounmpo. If he can’t be had, go for Donovan Mitchell, or even Kawhi Leonard. The point is that leaning into Durant’s timeline is better than doing nothing.
There’s proof of this concept now. The Rockets, as constructed, aren’t good enough. That’s fine if they’re young, but as long as they have Durant on the roster, running a team that they know isn’t good enough basically burns a season.
That’s not to say running it back is a disaster. Firstly, there’s a world outside of basketball – nothing the Rockets could do is disastrous in the strictest sense. The Rockets will still be young and pick-rich.
It’s simply the worst of the available options. There’s little reason to invest in this current group to accomplish anything of note. So, they ought to get younger (and…pick richer?), or they ought to spend some of that capital. There needs to be a change this summer:
Even if, no matter what they do, they’re bound to upset someone.
