It is seeming inevitable that the Phoenix Suns will be a major seller this summer after enduring a nightmare of a 2024-25 campaign. The Suns need to restock their draft-pick cupboard badly, as it’s evident that there is no way that their “big three” of Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, and Bradley Beal can make it work. This in turn could pave the way for the Houston Rockets, a team that’s been positioning itself for a blockbuster trade for a star, to acquire either Booker or Durant.
If given a choice, any team would much rather trade for Booker; Booker is only 28 years of age, and him being in the middle of his prime means that any team that gets him will be getting plenty of productive years from him. The problem, however, is that the Suns may be (understandably) reluctant to trade Booker away, especially when the 28-year-old is not angling for an exit from the team anyway, preferring to stick it out with the team through the bad times.
Durant, however, is a different story. He’ll be turning 37 years of age prior to the start of the 2025-26 season, and as productive of a player as he remains, his career is close to ending. This could make him a more realistic trade target, and especially so for a Rockets team that has some of the Suns’ future first-round picks.
With that said, this is the perfect Rockets trade proposal that could land Durant in Houston after a tumultuous stint with the Suns.
Rockets take next step in title-contending dreams
Rockets trade: Fred VanVleet, Cam Whitmore, Aaron Holiday, 2027 PHX first-round pick, 2029 PHX first-round pick
Suns trade: Kevin Durant
The Suns can dream of getting one of the Rockets’ blue-chip youngsters all they want, but with Kevin Durant being in the final year of his deal, there is simply no way they’ll be getting one of Jalen Green, Amen Thompson, or Jabari Smith Jr. in exchange. Even Tari Eason, the Rockets’ swiss-army knife defender coming off the bench, should be off-limits, considering how incredibly well he fits within the team’s fabric.
Matching contracts will be an issue as well, although this will be more of an issue for the Suns; being a second apron team means that they cannot acquire more salary than they give out in a trade. Moreover, they cannot aggregate multiple salaries, which means that trading Durant by his lonesome is their only choice.
The Suns also have no leverage remaining; as mentioned earlier, Durant is in the last year of his contract, and the entire NBA world knows that they are about to become a selling team after a disastrous 2024-25 campaign. This means that the Rockets can perhaps get away with a Durant trade that doesn’t require them to give up some of their assets.
Make no mistake about it, however, this trade will still cost the Rockets a fortune. Durant is still one of the best scorers in the league, and he fits in perfectly with the team as another perimeter go-to-guy alongside Green and as someone who won’t be tasked to do much outside of scoring efficiently. This season, Durant is still averaging around 27/6/4 — elite numbers.
But the best thing the Rockets can offer the Suns is the ability to start from scratch without any guilt. Giving back two of the unprotected first-rounders that they surrendered for Durant should already be an incredible win for the Suns. And with the Rockets getting one of the best wings in the league in this hypothetical scenario, Cam Whitmore becomes an even more expendable piece, and he should be given a chance to start or at the very least log heavy minutes in the Valley.
Now, the difficult part is matching salaries; the Rockets, however, can accept Fred VanVleet’s team option for the 2025-26 season and use him as a major trade piece. While VanVleet is an integral piece for the Rockets (they are a near-.500 team when he is out of the lineup), using his contract as the main salary-matching piece provides the path of least resistance.
It will be difficult for the Rockets to match Durant’s $54.7 million salary for the season without the inclusion of VanVleet’s deal, and if they refuse to include the veteran point guard in the deal, they will have to trade away Dillon Brooks, Reed Sheppard and Jock Landale instead. Sheppard is only 20 years of age and is one of the Rockets’ best young prospects, and Houston would much rather have him for the next half-decade or so (at the very least) instead of holding on to VanVleet, who will be on the last year of his deal anyway by then.
There is plenty of merit in deciding to just trade Sheppard away instead of VanVleet; with Durant on the roster, Houston will be in win-now mode anyway. But the Rockets’ future is more secure with Sheppard in tow, and the 20-year-old’s stock could be on the rise as well in his sophomore season, making him a more appealing trade piece later down the line (or a full-blown long-term keeper).
This is something the Rockets are going to have to weigh. But for now, trading VanVleet away is the easier path for Houston.
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