Could the Rockets trade Kevin Durant this year?

The rules surrounding NBA team building are loose.

You’re supposed to commit to a “timeline”. The average age of your roster is supposed to be comparable.

The rules may be loose, but that’s not to say they’re arbitrary. Many teams have tried the whole “two timelines” thing, and few have succeeded.

Advertisement

The idea is that, by some kind of osmosis process, the veterans will usher the young guys into title contention, as if Amen Thompson can somehow absorb Kevin Durant’s shot-making ability. There are examples of the approach working, but they all feature MVP-level young talents, like the Spurs drafting Tim Duncan with David Robinson on the roster, or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson.

So perhaps the conversation is circular. If Sengun were the Tim Duncan to Durant’s Robinson, the timeline issue becomes moot. Given the Rockets’ “lots of good young players, but none future MVP candidates” build, it’s fair to ask a question:

Could this team trade Durant?

Rockets should consider trading Durant if necessary

Rafael Stone has made a habit of trading two second-round picks for one second-round pick and Alpha Kaba so he can cut Kaba and generate a trade exception, or whatever, at the trade deadline.

Advertisement

It’s a good approach. Every year, Stone leaves Rockets fans disappointed because he didn’t make a blockbuster move, even though not making a blockbuster move is unequivocally better than making a bad move.

This year feels a bit different, doesn’t it? There’s some pressure after two consecutive first-round exits. The United States Ambassador to Italy is surely getting some ants in his pants. A major deadline deal feels more likely this year than it has in years past. If the Rockets aren’t, say, a top-3 seed by the deadline, it’s a looming possibility.

That’s going to mean one of two things. It’s going to mean reuniting Durant with Kyrie Irving, or pairing him with Karl-Anthony Towns, or some other superstar (side note: This summer was crazy, and all the best hypothetical trade targets got traded), or it’s going to mean trading Durant and resetting the timeline.

That feels like an awfully attractive proposition to…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/could-rockets-trade-kevin-durant-091448320.html

Author :

Publish date : 2026-10-13 09:14:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.