Suns DESPERATE To Reclaim Draft Picks | Will Rockets CASH IN On Kevin Durant Or Devin Booker TRADE?

Suns DESPERATE To Reclaim Draft Picks | Will Rockets CASH IN On Kevin Durant Or Devin Booker TRADE?

On today’s show, the Suns are aggressively trying to reclaim their draft capital from the Rockets and how Houston can use that desperation to make a significant win now move. It’s all coming up right here at Locked on Rockets. This is mission control Houston. Ignition sequence start. 6 5 4 3 2 1 What’s up and welcome to another edition of Locked on Rockets, your daily podcast home for everything Houston Rockets basketball. As always, I’m your host, Jackson Gatlin, native Houstononian and credentialed media member. I’m also the host of Locked on NBA Thursdays. Be sure to follow along wherever you listen to your podcasts or on YouTube. Just search Locked on Rockets, where the best way you can help us grow our show is to listen every on a podcast platform of your choosing and then like, comment, subscribe on YouTube. And as always, thanks so much for making Locked on Rockets part of your day every single day, whether it’s on your way to work, on your lunch break, in the gym. Thank you so much for being an everydayer. We’re be talking a lot about the Rockets and Phoenix Suns and a potential trade between these two teams on today’s show as there was some pretty significant reporting from the Athletics Kelly Eco about the Suns aggressive pursuit to try and reclaim their future draft capital from the Rockets. um and how Houston can utilize kind of that desperation to make a significant win now move. Um there’s a lot of stuff to get into. We’re going to stay very Phoenix focused on today’s show. Uh there was some additional reporting in Kelly Eco’s article as it reta as it pertains to some other potential offseason moves and directions the team may ultimately go. We’ll talk about that in a follow-up episode, but we’re going to start today’s episode by visiting the reporting here uh as it’s centered around the Suns and their uh pursuit, their aggressive pursuit of reclaiming their future draft capital. So, this is what Kelly Eco had to write about, and I’m going to put a link to the article in the uh episode description if you want to go check it out yourself. But um it actually starts off talking about the kind of Devin Booker angle of things. First, let me just read through this stuff and then we’ll then we’ll kind of, you know, unpack it and and diagnose the situation. The Rockets young talent, draft capital, and team success make them a natural fit for a star player who may become available. As mentioned last month, long-term interest in Sun star guard Devin Booker has cooled. team and league sources said. Having been a desired target for a while, Houston’s decision to pivot from Booker is the result of a few factors. His lowest scoring season since 2021, his worst shooting season since 2019, a hefty $100 million price tag, internal belief that Phoenix will extend Booker, lack of desire to gut a rising contender, and the continued growth of fourthyear guard Jaylen Green. The latter, which has become a polarizing talking point on social media, is arguably the most important internally. Green’s playoff struggles against Golden State are viewed as an opportunity for improvement in key areas, with the organization placing more onus on his production over an 82game season than one series. But outside of Green, Houston’s desire to keep its young core together is strong, team sources said. internal calculus concerning any potential star and their projected trajectory would be compared to say the high ceilings of an Amen Thompson or Alpin Shingun who both earned NBA honors this season. So that’s kind of part one and then the follow-up here and this is what we’re going to start with as far as trying to unpack this latest bit of reporting. This is not to say the Rockets and Suns are not in communication. On the contrary, Phoenix is aggressive in pursuit of a trading Kevin Durant and b regaining full control of their draft capital, starting with the number 10 pick in next month’s draft. Team sources said since the conclusion of the season, Houston has fielded several calls from Phoenix, who have since gradually lowered their asking price for Durant. Those sources said there is a price where the Rockets would be interested, but with fear of breaking up their for a 36-year-old coming off injury, doubt remains over a deal materializing. So, I first I want to just put the disclaimer in here that I fully understand that uh people are going to get very exhausted about hearing about the Rockets and Durant and Booker and the Suns and Giannis and all speculation um until some moves are made surrounding these players. Um but that’s just the reality of the NBA offseason. So, that’s kind of where we are. So, I do apologize if you’re getting fed up with these conversations, but that’s this is what’s going on with the Rockets. So, this is what we’re going to be talking about. So, taking that for what it’s worth, you know, I I’ve largely been a proponent of the Rockets potentially pursuing a Kevin Durant deal because it it seems like it’s almost a match made in heaven. We talked about it on our last episode. First off, there are a lot of connections that Kevin Durant has to this Rockets organization, be it former teammates, former coaches, interpersonal relationships, and he addresses kind of the biggest need for this Rockets team, which is a legitimate go-to scorer at the end of games, a legitimate bucket getter who can help you generate offense, especially in the which was the Rockets biggest weakness this past season. And what that was the main reason why they lost the Golden State Warriors was their inability to generate high high level consistent offense in the half court against Golden State’s very very good defense. So from that perspective it makes a ton of sense, right? But then you start to factor in the other issues, right? the salary, the age component, the injury history, and and I absolutely hear all of these concerns, and these concerns are are legitimately valid when Rockets fans bring them up, be it on social media or in the YouTube comments of our show here, and I I read them and I see them. But at the same time, this kind of position that the Phoenix Suns find themselves in, this level of desperation that they are showing in wanting to reacquire their future draft capital from Houston. This is exactly what you want or exactly where you want a team to be in negotiations because Phoenix is operating from a position with zero leverage, right? They’re operating out of desperation at this point. And this is exactly where the Rockets want to be, where you can take advantage of a team that is going for an absolute hailmary, trying to recoup some semblance of value for a star who clearly doesn’t want to be there and a star that could provide an immen a tremendous amount of value to what this team is trying to accomplish right here, right now. I’ve never wanted to gut this Rockets team and send multiple young pieces or multiple picks back. But if you can get Kevin Durant on a cheap deal, like if you can get KD for something that is essentially just like Dylan Brooks and salary filler and then the number 10 pick in this year’s draft, that is a really strong starting point for the framework of any potential deal that the Rockets could be involved in. um in pursuit of adding Kevin Durant to a team that already won 52 games this past season without necessarily breaking up the future of the young core. That’s been the constant battle and in so many of these discussions about what a trade would look like and how it could materialize is how do you evaluate how much value you’re sending back to the Phoenix Suns in a potential Kevin Durant deal, especially with the salary matching component being so difficult with KD making roughly $54 million next season. it becomes really hard to try to match that salary without giving up too much value by way of the young players um or future draft capital and that kind of thing. So, coming up, we’re going to get into the nitty-gritty, what a deal could look like, some of the creative ways that the Rockets and Suns could finesse a deal, and then also that tidbit about Devin Booker. Is that true or is that posturing? And would the Rockets be better pursuing a Booker oriented deal instead of a Kevin Durant deal? We’re going to get there in just one moment. First, today’s episode is brought to you by Better Help. 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That’s betterhelp hp.com/lockedonba. And continuing on here at Locked on Rockets, your daily podcast, home for everything Houston Rockets basketball. All right. So, getting into the idea, the framework of a potential Kevin Durant deal here. And this is where the value component becomes really difficult because it’s really difficult for the Rockets to be able to match the incoming salary of Kevin Durant without giving up too much of their own value. And I think at least from a position of zero leverage, if you’re the Phoenix Suns and you’re operating from a position with zero leverage and and acting out of desperation at this point to try and deal Kevin Durant and and get back some semblance of value, there’s no way that you’re going to be able to get any of the future draft capital. You’re not getting the 2027 pick. You’re not getting the 2029 pick. The best you’re going to get out of Houston is the number 10 pick in this year’s draft. And I say that because the framework of a deal for KD as present, the only way that the Rockets and Suns could make a one forone, not a one for one, but a, you know, just a one-on-one trade between Houston and Phoenix work is it would have to be Dylan Brooks, Jabari Smith Jr., Jo Landale, Aaron Holiday, and then the number 10 pick in this year’s draft. And at that point, from a value perspective, essentially what you’re giving up for KD Holiday and Jock Landale are just they’re just salary filler in the trade, but you’re giving up Dylan Brooks, who is a starting caliber 3 and D wing. Um maybe he’s regressed a little bit defensively, but still a a very serviceable player and definitely a guy who in a vacuum by himself is at least worth a first round pick, potentially a couple firsts to the right team. Um you’re giving up a young prospect in Jabarisma Jr. who is, you know, just finished year three is is extension eligible this off seasonason. And so maybe there’s some, you know, potential financial hurdles somewhere down the line that you have to consider with that. But you’d be having to include Jabari because of his salary component, right? Because of how much he makes in order to meet the $54 million salary of KD. And then the number 10 pick in this year’s draft, which seems like kind of the the starting point for any of these negotiations for Phoenix, being able to, you know, potentially jumpstart their rebuild essentially um or their retooling efforts potentially around Devin Booker, although more on that in just a second. And so that kind of becomes the issue is is that too much value to give up for Kevin Durant? Personally, um I don’t think it is. You know, I understand the concerns that, you know, I I addressed a little bit there in segment one, but at the same time, you know, my thought process with any potential Kevin Durant deal for the Houston Rockets would simply be, you know, you’re not bringing in Kevin Durant to be the guy. You’re not bringing him in to, you know, feel the weight of being your number one option and leading scorer every single night on a night-to-ight basis. Now, is he capable of that? Absolutely. Is he capable of getting you buckets at the end of a game when you need to try and win when when it’s crunch time, whatever? Absolutely. But you’re not putting KD in a LeBron sized or Steph Curryized role offensively simply because you’d still have all the other major pieces that existed this past season that got the Rockets to 52 wins in the first place. Like you’re essentially losing out on two role players in Dylan Brooks and Jabari Smith Jr. whose offensive production would easily be replaced by adding Kevin Durant to the mix and then also factoring in increased roles and usage for guys like Amen Thompson who projects to have a significantly bigger role offensively this upcoming season after we saw him grow exponentially on that side of the court this past season. assuming the same or similar levels of production from Jaylen Green and Alport and Shenun. Assuming like Emodoka addressed in his exit press conference, you know, bigger roles for both Reed Shepard and Cam Whitmore off the Rockets bench, there is plenty of production to go around where on at least a nightto-ight basis over the course of an 82 game season, you’re not putting nearly as much pressure on Kevin Durant to deliver offensively. And you know, I I made the uh argument on social media the other day that he’d be able to coast through the regular season. Maybe that was too strong of terminology to use, but essentially the team wouldn’t be living and dying based on KD’s production each and every night. Think about Jabari Smith Jr.’s offensive role on this Rockets team last season before his hand injury when he was in the starting lineup. Think about Jabari’s role offensively where he was essentially just a catch-and-oot threat and that was more or less it, right? stayed in his lane, did what he does. Imagine Kevin Durant not being in a position where he has to score the ball con. Now, obviously, you don’t just roll Kevin Durant out there and not take advantage of having him on the floor. He would become a f they would utilize him. they would, you know, incorporate him into all their different schemes, but at the same time, he would also be, it would also be just as easy for the Rockets to be able to continue to run, you know, a steady amount of their offense through Jaylen, Shingun, Amen, Fred handling the Rock a little bit and KD would be able to just sit on the perimeter and bang wide open threes at a 43% clip, mind you, which is what he shot from downtown last season. So, you essentially just envision replacing Jabari Smith Jr. with a 43% knockdown three-point shooter and then a version of that where you could go to him at the end of a shot clock after a broken play or when you need a bucket, when you need a good offensive possession. Like, that’s what the Rockets would be getting out of a potential KD deal in this dynamic. And you you’d be looking at a starting lineup of Fred Van Vleet, Jaylen Green, Amen Thompson, Kevin Durant, and Alper and Shingun, which is still an incredibly that is still an incredible defensive lineup. Katie is not quite the defender that he once was, but you still have your defensive ace and Amen Thompson. Jaylen Green is a much improved defender. Kevin Durant is a solid enough defender and Alper and Shenoon has improved tremendously on that end to where the Rockets would still be able to maintain, you know, their defensive identity. They might not be able to crack, you know, top top four, top three defense with that lineup as their full-blown starting lineup, but they also still have plenty of other good defensive pieces coming off the bench with with Tari E, with Steven Adams resigning him, assuming you resign him. And then you’d still have Reed Shepard and Cam Whitmore who you’d expect you’d be expecting a lot more out of them. they’d suddenly be thrust into much bigger roles next season. But based on the internal belief that Reed Shepard is ready for more or that he has a very bright future and we’ve seen the flashes from Cam Whitmore, that team is incredibly deep and you’d still have, you know, the ability of retaining, you know, serviceable uh kind of end of bench guys like a Jan Tate or a Jeff Green potentially on vet minimum deals, that kind of stuff. still have maybe Nate Williams floating down at the end of the bench. Um, and you’d still have your MLE to be able to go sign a potential impact free agent to further bolster your depth in that lineup if you wanted to go sign a replacement level, you know, 3 and D wing to make up for the fact that you’re trading both Dylan Brooks and Jabari Smith Jr. to pick up a Kevin Durant type. So, the Rockets would be left with plenty of options. And this deal, the biggest part of this deal, right, is they wouldn’t be dipping into the future draft capital. They wouldn’t be, you know, foregoing or or getting rid of that 2027 Suns pick or the 2029 Suns pick, which which, you know, would be looking to be really really juicy if the Suns are looking to completely tear things down and and pivot from Kevin Durant. And that look that version of that team, the the team that I just laid out, I think that team has at least, you know, a floor of potentially the Western Conference Finals if if all stays stays the same. Um, it addresses the Rockets biggest weakness. They still maintain a strong defensive identity and assuming growth for all the young guys, right? assuming, you know, Shingun gets better and Amen gets better and Jaylen gets better and Reed and Cam are ready to step into, you know, bigger contributing roles next season, that team still has, you know, a lot of internal growth as well as adding a top 10 player right at this very moment to a team that already won 52 wins and the cost doesn’t seem that steep in order to accomplish it. So, I like that version of that trade and that very much feels like where things could potentially be headed with the desperation coming out of Phoenix. But I also think there’s actually a different outcome here that might even be better for both teams involved and might actually put the Rockets in even stronger position to compete not just for a couple years as Kevin Durant ages out of his career, but for the foreseeable future. And I want to talk about that dynamic here in just one moment. First, today’s episode is brought to you by Open Phone. If you’re running a business, you know that every missed call is money left on the table. Think about the last time you had an urgent need, maybe for a plumber or a service provider. If the first person didn’t answer, did you wait around? Probably not. I I know. I’ve been there. You call and I don’t I’m not waiting around. I’m calling the next line that I can find. You moved on, right? That’s why you need Open Phone. Open Phone is the number one business phone system built to streamline and scale your customer communications all from an app on your phone or your computer. Open Phone lets you manage business calls and texts from a single app. And their AI agent handles after hours calls, answers common questions, and captures leads so you never miss a chance to engage with a customer. Phone is offering listeners 20% off your first 6 months at openphone.com/lockedonba. That’s openphone.com/lockedonba. O P N P H O N.com/lockedon MBA. And if you have existing numbers with another service, open phone will port them over at no extra charge. Open phone. No missed calls, no missed customers. And final segment here at Locked on Rockets, your daily podcast home for everything Houston Rockets basketball. All right. So, the KD stuff is one angle of this. And I again, just to reiterate, I understand, right, that the idea of the value being given up for KD being Dylan Brooks, Jabari in the number 10 pick might be too much for some people. I get that, especially given his age, his injury history. Um, you know, the fact that it would be maybe a two-year window, maybe a three-year window for being generous, um, that the Rockets would have to be able to compete with him at the highest level. I get that. Um, but it also, you know, the uniqueness of that is it also preserves, right? It keeps Jaylen Green on the roster. It gives the Rockets a chance to see if he is legit and if he can turn it around and and, you know, if they can have another postseason appearance where he is able to thrive instead of struggle like he did against the Warriors. So, there’s that to consider. But I think there’s a an even more intriguing pathway here and something that something that I think is very curious is that the Rockets there have been multiple reports now. There was the initial report and now a follow-up in this report by Kelly Eco about the Rockets, you know, supposed waning interest in pursuing a Devin Booker trade given given the factors that were listed in the article, right? He had a down year and um what was it even specifically? Uh lowest scoring season since 2021, worst shooting season since 2019. Um $100 million price tag, internal belief that Phoenix will extend Booker, lack of desire to gut a rising contender. So, here’s the thing is I think there’s actually an outcome here where it makes more sense for both the Rockets and Suns for Phoenix to trade KD to literally any other team. Trade him to trade him to Miami Heat, the Timberwolves, the Spurs are rumored to want be interested in KD like where whoever they want to send him to. Send KD somewhere else. Get, you know, one or two picks back, one or two young players, whatever you can cobble together for a KD package. But the reality of the situation is the Suns are so devoid of assets and they’re so hamstrung by the Bradley Beal contract and his no trade clause that even if they wanted to retool around Devin Booker, it’s going to be damn near impossible to put together a competent enough team around him at this stage of his career given how limited the Suns are in in the way of assets and whatnot. So Phoenix’s best course of action moving forward would be to send KD wherever, get some assets, get some pieces, capital, whatever, and then negotiate with the Rockets and try and recoup their draft assets, recoup their draft future. And similar to what the Rockets did when they traded Brooklyn their picks back. Ideally, you would want to hold on to that 2029 Phoenix first round pick, similar to how the Rockets held on to the 2027 Brooklyn first round pick because even though Brooklyn has the chance to bottom out and tank these next couple years, they’re still not going to be a great team by 2027. So, that 2027 first from Brooklyn has a lot of value still. Likewise, that 2029 first round pick from Phoenix is going to have a lot of value. The wrinkle in this is that Washington owns the swap rights on Phoenix’s 2026 first round pick. So Phoenix has zero incentive to outright tank this upcoming season. That being said, I think you could maybe entice Washington with Cam Whitmore potentially as an upside piece. A lot of raw talent there. And if you could flip Cam Whitmore to Washington for the rights to or the the, you know, the swap rights being relinquished on that Suns pick and then to Phoenix, you would trade Jaylen Green and salary filler, which makes the the total like outgoing package for the Rockets would be Jaylen Green, Cam Whitmore, the number 10 pick in this year’s draft, and the 2027 Phoenix pick. So, four assets going out essentially from Houston for Devin Booker. That deal seems like a no-brainer to me. And it seems like it would be a no-brainer for Phoenix because then they would not they’d get some young young pieces back. They’d get Jaylen Green who still has some potential there. Albeit he’s not on his rookie scale deal anymore. So, he’s making 33 million a year, but um still, you know, flashy talent, can score the ball well and and you know, see what happens in the desert, right? if they make the deal for him. But, you know, put the rock in his hands and let him go to town, let him do his thing. Uh, and then, you know, you get you get a window where you get two years to to bottom out with no expectations. You get a chance at top prospects over the next couple drafts. And that to me seems like the best possible avenue rather than trying to cobble together some semblance of a competitive team around Devin Booker and maybe barely scraping to make it into the plan because you’re not going to be able to put the right pieces around Deon Booker. You just don’t have enough in the way of assets, right? The Suns are in a really bad spot. There’s, you know, they have been so dreadfully mismanaged ever since making it to the finals that they had a championship caliber team. And then that championship caliber team, you know, they they they gutted a little bit of it for KD. And I think the biggest mistake though that they made was flipping Chris Paul for Bradley Beal. That’s where they really made a massive mistake. Um cuz Beal is not anywhere near the same level of impact that Chris Paul is on the court even though the numbers would tell you otherwise. That’s you basically had three guys who all did the exact same thing is score the ball between Beal, Booker, and KD. Um ain’t nobody playing defense on that team. They were a bottom four defense this past season. And so all all this stuff. But if you look at that package and you think about the idea of a Rockets roster that could then be Fred Van Vleet resigned on a fresh deal, Devin Booker, Dylan Brooks, Amen Thompson, Alpar Shenon, your potential starting five. Or maybe you maybe you move Dylan Brooks to the bench and you start Jabari Smith Jr. for spacing and size purposes, what whatever like point is you got those five guys and then off the bench you still have Reed Shepard who projects to have a bigger role this upcoming season. the ARIS, Tari and Jabari, and resign Stephen Adams. And then you still also have the other guys that you can bring back, right? J Shante, Jeff Green, you know, you’re into the bench kind of insurance policy guys, stay ready crew. Um, and then you still have the MLE on top of that to flesh out the rest of the roster to go add one more rotation piece to the mix. Essentially, you’d be running back this exact same roster that took the Warriors to seven games and won 52 wins, won 52 games, I should say. But you’re replacing Jaylen Green with Devin Booker. And I can already hear it now. There’d be there are some Rockets fans who are going to be like, “Well, why would you do why would you trade Jaylen Green for Devon Booker and assets on top of that when Jaylen Green’s numbers are similar to Devin Booker or or Jaylen Green has the chance to be even better than Deon Booker since he’s only 23 years old?” That’s a fair argument. I think the counterargument is also that Jaylen Green might not ever be as good as Deon Booker. That even though Jaylen Green’s numbers, the raw numbers are close to Deon Booker’s, the efficiency is still nowhere near what Deon Booker did. Even on a down year for Devin Booker, a down season for Devin Booker this past year, he averaged 25.6 points per game on 59% true shooting. That is absurd. So, even though his efficiency, right, he only shot 33% from downtown, um he was still incredibly effective from the mid-range. Um he still found ways to score the ball at a very very high level and he also facilitates at a high level. seven 7.1 assists per game, right? There’s a lot that Booker would bring to the table that Jaylen Green does not. Um, he’s an allNBA caliber scorer. He’s been the leading scorer on a legitimate championship caliber team before and he’s only 28 years old. He’s smack dab in the middle of his prime right now. And I think I, you know, again, I can see both arguments. I can see the argument for wanting to stay the course, bank on continuity, give Jaylen Green another chance to prove himself next season to to to come back in the playoffs next year and prove that, you know, his first grow against the Warriors was was just that, that it was just his first playoff appearance and that he’s going to grow from the grow from it, learn from it, all that. But the alternative is, you know, trading for an established product, a guy who’s been there, done that, who’s made it to the finals, and, you know, without without damaging anything else. Like the the point in the article was gutting a contender. If all it takes is Jaylen Green, Cam Whitmore, and Filler, that’s not gutting a contender. That’s keeping all the other pieces in place. And because it sounds like Phoenix is operating from such a position of desperation, I think there’s a very legitimate possibility to be able to achieve that. You know, previously maybe not. Maybe Phoenix would have demanded, you know, oh, we want Reed Shepard or we want one of Jabari Ortari in the trade as well. But Phoenix is kind of screwed. And because Houston owns their draft capital, it’s not like they can go somewhere else. It’s not like they can trade to another team and then beat go be bad because then Rockets just get a bunch of really good picks. So, they have to play ball with Houston. And the other side of this is, you know, again, there’s the there’s the optimistic side. There’s the side of Rockets fans that want to see Jaylen Green back again next season, want to give him another shot in the playoffs. But here’s the rub is worst case scenario, right, would be you run it back next season. Rockets still have regular season success, right? They’re still, you know, top top four team in the West, you know, 50 plus wins. Cool. It all looks good. Um, but then they make it to the playoffs again and if Jaylen Green lays another egg in the playoffs and the Rockets get bounced in the first round or second round and he struggles again, then he’s going to then he’s basically permanent. He’s damaged goods at that point because then it won’t be just a one-off. Oh, it was his first playoffs and there’s still hope about him growing and improving and bouncing back. It’s it’s no, okay, he doesn’t have it in the playoffs. And at that point, you’re stuck. At that point, nobody’s going to want to trade for him. There’s not going to be this idea of like, oh, maybe he breaks out in year six or, you know, maybe he just needs a change of scenery. It’s like, this might be the opportunity for the Rockets to cash in, right? This might be the chance for the Rockets to take a big swing, to improve the roster, to get a proven star talent, a proven AllNBA caliber talent, and elevate themselves from, you know, wannabe contenders from from, you know, upand cominging young team into legitimate contention territory with the addition of a Devin Booker type. I think it makes all the sense in the world. Um, and I really do hope that and that’s that’s why I find it intriguing that there have been multiple kind of passing reports about the Rockets supposedly not being interested in Devin Booker. So maybe it is just posturing from Houston’s front office to try and drive down the price even further. Um, but if Phoenix is I mean look, Phoenix’s front office has been doing all all kinds of wacky stuff. So maybe they do just double down on Devin Booker and they extend him and they try to cobble together some kind of a competitive team with him and Bradley Beal and whatever you get for the, you know, from a KD trade that’s not to the Houston Rockets or maybe it is to the Houston Rockets. Who knows? Um, but that seems like a poor usage of assets and that would lead the Suns down a path where they’re going to be in a much worse spot in two to three to four years than they would be if they just ripped the band-aid off right now. and dealt Booker to the dealt Booker to Houston, got their assets back and uh were able to kind of proceed forward with a brief rebuild or a you know bottoming out process um and just kind of see where things are in a couple years. So those are my arguments for it. I think it makes a ton of sense. And the more that I sit here and think about it, the more that I weigh the different options, Giannis, KD, Booker, Jaylen Brown. The more that I think about it, I think Booker is number one on my list. I really do. I one B after Giannis, depending on price, because it’s hard to think about not it’s hard to not want a top three player in his prime just puts the Rockets on the clock a little bit harder than the Booker situation does. But very curious your thoughts. Would you want to see the Rockets go after KD with the package mentioned? Would you want to see them go after Devin Booker with the package mentioned? Give me your thoughts in the YouTube comments. Remember, the best way to help us grow the show is to listen every single day on a podcast platform of your choosing. And then like, comment, subscribe on YouTube. But as always, thank you so much for watching. Thank you so much for listening. And we look forward to having you back right here at Locked On Rockets, your daily podcast home for everything Houston Rockets basketball.

Suns DESPERATE To Reclaim Draft Picks | Will Rockets CASH IN On Kevin Durant Or Devin Booker TRADE?

Rockets-Suns trade rumors heat up! Kevin Durant or Devin Booker possibly on the move?

Host Jackson Gatlin (@JTGatlin) breaks down potential blockbuster trades between the Houston Rockets and Phoenix Suns. Explore scenarios involving Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and the Rockets young core of Jalen Green and Jabari Smith Jr. analyzing the Suns pursuit of their draft capital and how it could reshape both franchises. Dive into the strategic implications of these moves, including lineup changes and long-term team trajectories.

Will the Rockets land a superstar? Can the Suns reclaim their future picks? Tune in for expert insights on these game-changing NBA trade possibilities and their potential impact on the Western Conference landscape.

#Rockets #NBA #Trade

ARTICLE LINK: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6396071/2025/06/03/rockets-steven-adams-giannis-antetokounmpo-nba-draft/

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