REPORTS: Houston Rockets OUT On Kevin Durant, Devin Booker Trades With Phoenix Suns

REPORTS: Houston Rockets OUT On Kevin Durant, Devin Booker Trades With Phoenix Suns

Are the Houston Rockets bluffing or are the Phoenix Suns screwed? Welcome into a trending mini pod edition of PHNX Suns. As always, I’m Eric Ruby. Hit that like button, subscribe while you’re here, and if you’re listening on audio, fivestar reviews go a long way. But we are a long way away from the off season being over, even though the Suns have not played a lick of postseason action. Of course, that means subtuge season, smokeokesc screen season, and we might have gotten two pretty massive ones in the form of the Houston Rockets denying interest in not only Kevin Durant, but also Devin Booker. Let’s start with Kevin Durant since we know he is the most likely to be traded out of those two as the Phoenix Suns have repeatedly said they are not planning on trading Devin Booker. We’ll get there in a second. But according to the athletic Sam Aik and Kelly Iiko, while Durant is widely seen as the most attainable of that group and he’s known to be very interested in playing in Houston, team sources said the Rockets still have reservations about that possible partnership in large part because Durant’s age would be so out of sync with their younger timeline. Now, this does match up with what DLLS NBA insider Mark Stein told PHX Suns about a month ago where the Rockets interesting Kevin Durant has been overstated. Now, I do think you can get to a point with the Houston Rockets where they get desperate. Of course, they flamed out in the first round of the playoffs to a good Golden State team, but not a world beater Golden State team. And Houston definitely lacked a halfcourt scoring punch. wasn’t able to hit their free throws, get jump shots going consistently, and we all know Kevin Rance, one of the best in the world at that side of things. So, on court, I do believe there’s a fit. What I find interesting here is Kelly Iiko and Sam Aik on Durant being very interested in playing for Houston. We haven’t really heard anything from Durant’s side of camp about where he would prefer to play, if he even would really prefer to be traded. just reports from Sham Shirania saying both sides are going to work together on getting a Kevin Durant deal done. But KD being very interested to play with the Rockets and the Rockets still having reservations about Durant. To me, those seem a little too convenient. I don’t believe that KD has gone out and made it known exactly what team he wants to play for and that he has high interest in the Houston Rockets. And while I do believe the Rockets probably have some reservation about Kevin Durant’s age, as they probably should, considering the fact that their core is Ahmed Thompson, young, Alprin Shenun, young, maybe Jaylen Green, and we’ll get there in a second, but also young. They have of course a very youth inspired core. Throw in Taran, Cam Whitmore, Jabari Smith, Reed Shepard. They have a lot of younger NBA talent. So, that being said, dropping in a Kevin Durant might be against their timeline, but this is also the same Houston Rockets team that acquired a Fred Van Fleet, who’s not on their timeline, a Steven Adams, who’s not on their timeline, a Dylan Brooks, who’s not on their timeline, and they did see a massive amount of success in doing that, in finding the second seed in the regular season in a tough Western Conference. Of course, none of those players are Kevin Durant. And if you’re able to attain Durant for a relatively reasonable price without giving up all of your young talent, I think Houston does that. And in fact, I think that’s exactly what Houston is trying to do. They’re trying to drive Kevin Durant’s price down publicly because they know that they are in the power position. They own the Phoenix Suns draft pick, which at the time of this recording is still to be determined in the lottery, and they own the future Phoenix Suns draft picks as well. They know that the Suns are not in a position of strong leverage considering they just missed the playin. It’s widely known that Durant will most likely be on another team at the upcoming start of next season. So knowing that you’re in this power position for the Houston Rockets then allows you to play chicken, allows you to play chess with the Suns in the form of public media. And that’s where this comes in. Oh, Katie’s interested in us. drives the price down because Katie wants to go there, right? Eliminates the other competitors and we don’t really want him because he’s old. So, we wouldn’t be willing to give up XX and X. How about just X and X? How about just a player and a pick? How about just players? No picks. Right? you you want to if you’re in Houston’s position, and I don’t blame them at all, put yourself in the public power position, the triple P. And I think they are already in that. Now, I don’t believe everything that they’re saying. I I do believe that they probably don’t have as much interest in Durant as they would a Giannis or in passes, you would say a Devin Booker, but of course Sam A and Kellyo continue beyond that and do some more reporting. But to put a bow on the Kevin Durant conversation, I would not be surprised if we get to a point where it’s like these public battles between Houston and Phoenix trying to get the upper hand and maybe another player comes in with the Kevin Durant trade. What do the Memphis Grizzlies do? The Brooklyn Nets are going allin on Giannis. How does that affect things as well? Of course, we’ll keep you up to date on PHNX Suns, but that was only part of the report from AIO. Now, there’s also the Devin Booker side of things. Now, quote, “The Rockets have previously held serious interest in Suns Devin Booker, but team sources said that is no longer the case. Not only do team officials still have faith in Jaylen Green, who is 5 years younger than Booker and $66 million cheaper over the next three seasons, but also Booker struggles last season shifted the thinking in this front.” Okay, so let’s unpack all of that here. previously held serious interest in Suns Deon Booker. What has happened since that’s been reported? The Phoenix Suns have very publicly said he’s not getting traded. It’s not happening. Booker doesn’t want to get traded. The Suns don’t want to trade Booker. Those two things mean no deal happening. So, of course, you’re going to pivot and try to up the trade value of your own Jaylen Green, right? 5 years younger than Booker, $66 million cheaper to probably about one quarter as good of a player. So, let’s keep hyping him up and pretend like he’s the future of your franchise when he just had a god-awful playoff run. But it’s that last sentence. Booker’s struggles last season shifted the thinking in this front. No, they didn’t. No, they didn’t. That’s a lie. We couldn’t get him, so we’re going to tear down his value. We couldn’t get him, so we’re going to build up the value of our own guy. I’m not mad at the Houston Rockets for doing this. I’m not like, “Oh, how can they go and try to play chicken? How can they go and try to change the public’s perception of B?” That’s the game. That’s what you’re doing. That’s that’s NBA landscape nowadays. It is what it is. But this just straight up isn’t true. You were interested. The Suns denied you. Now you’re trying to go and just run circles around that and say, “Actually, we like Jaylen Green better. Jaylen Green’s awesome. Jaylen Green’s the future of our franchise. If you were able to trade Jaylen Green today, you would do it. You would. You would do it. And I wouldn’t blame you. And I wouldn’t want him on our team. So, that is interesting. It’s something to keep an eye on if you are a Suns fan since the Houston Rockets have always been linked to you and potential Kevin Durant trades. Where about the Suns picking does that make an impact on this since their pick is going to Houston? Of course, we’re going to be live on PHX Suns. If you’re catching this earlier or even after the fact, we’re going to be going live at 3:30 on Monday for a live watch along to the draft lottery and answering your mailbag questions. Drop a comment down below. How do you feel about the Houston Rockets reportedly no longer having interest in Kevin Durant and of course no longer having interest in Devin Booker who had no interest in them in the first place. Leave a like. Help us get to 50,000 subscribers here on PHNX Sports. And of course, if you’re listening on audio, you’re wonderful. Please rate us five stars. Leave a review. Apple Podcast, Spotify, help new people find the podcast and enjoy the Phoenix Suns community just as much as you are. We’ll be back with more live shows, more trendings, and so much more on PHNX Sports. Just keep it tuned right here.

The Houston Rockets are reportedly out on not only a potential trade with the Phoenix Suns for Kevin Durant, but also Devin Booker.
Erik Ruby discusses the recent reports from The Athletic’s Sam Amick and Kelly Iko, their impact on potential deals this Summer and if this is just classic playing the media from the Rocket’s front office, attempting to drive down the value of stars they have their eyes on acquiring?

#PhoenixSuns #NBA #HoustonRockets #KevinDurant #DevinBooker #JalenGreen #NBADraft #NBALottery #Rockets #Suns

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