BREAKING: Kevin Durant TRADED To Rockets In BLOCKBUSTER Deal | Will Houston DOMINATE The West?

BREAKING: Kevin Durant TRADED To Rockets In BLOCKBUSTER Deal | Will Houston DOMINATE The West?

on today’s show Kevin Durant traded to the Houston Rockets breaking down the deal why adding Katie makes Houston title contenders and more 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 kevin Durant is a member of the Houston Rockets wow still can’t believe I’m uttering that sentence on this show what is 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 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 single day on a podcast platform of your choosing and then like comment subscribe on YouTube we have got so much to get into on today’s show reacting to the news that Kevin Durant has been traded to the Houston Rockets jaylen Green Dylan Brooks and the number 10 pick in this year’s draft as well as five second round picks are the outgoing part of the trade package we’re going to break all of that down for you we’re going to get into why adding Kevin Durant makes them legitimate title contenders why they felt the need to make this move what it means for the immediate here and now as well as what it means for the Houston Rockets future so many different angles to tackle from this blockbuster breaking news deal uh first today’s episode is brought to you by Monarch Money take control of your finances with Monarch Money use code locked on NBA at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year 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 kd is a rocket wow that is going to take some getting used to to be able to say um it’s been a crazy trade saga with the Rockets emerging as one of the finalists to land Kevin Durant reporting from Sham Shirania suggests that it came down to the Houston Rockets and the Miami Heat in the wee hours of the night and they went back and forth with the Suns and ultimately Phoenix electing to go with the Phoenix pack or the Rockets package I should say of Jaylen Green Dylan Brooks the number 10 overall pick and five future second round draft picks we’re going to focus on the transactional part of this deal in just a moment but let’s just take a moment and think about what adding Kevin Durant to this young Rockets team means first off they add Kevin Durant to a team that just came off a 52 win season they add Kevin Durant to a team that has one of the best young head coaches in the entire association in Eime Udoka they add Kevin Durant to a team that’s biggest weakness this past year despite managing to win 52 wins in the regular season despite taking a very talented Warriors team all the way to seven games the Rockets most glaring weakness was their inability to get buckets when they needed them their the fact that they did not have a true 1A scoring option at the end of games sometimes you sometimes me always us it was a beautiful like mantra to have throughout the regular season and there were times where it it very much felt that way right where the Rockets were greater than the sum of their parts but there were too many games that were lost both in the regular season and specifically in the playoffs against the Warriors where they just could not manufacture points at the end of a game where they did not have a talent good enough to be able to step up and win them a basketball game kevin Durant gives them that this is a as clear a signal as you can get from the Houston Rockets that they are in win now mode kevin Durant is now your best player on the floor and the changes or any other subsequent changes that we will see with the roster will ultimately reflect that kd steps into a situation where he gets to be the number one option on a team that already has a stalwart defensive identity kevin Durant is still a very capable and plus level defender in his own right so he fits in and will mesh with that team identity immediately there’s no questions about that eay Odoka and Kevin Durant have a pre-existing relationship eay has coached KD before eay knows exactly what to expect by adding Kevin Durant to this Rockets team kevin Durant elevates this Rockets team from one of the young pluckucky upstart teams in the NBA that had a really bright future in this exciting young core into an immediate win now contending move without and this is the important notion here that I want Rockets fans to remember without sacrificing their long-term ability to contend at the highest level this is both a win now move as well as a move that given the cost of the assets that you sent out Jaylen Green Dylan Brooks the number 10 pick and five second round picks you still have a monumental treasure trove of assets down the line you still have the bright futures of Alpirin Shingun Jabari Smith Jr who was integral keeping him was huge in this deal tari E Amen Thompson Cam Whitmore Reed Shepard keeping six out of the seven members of the young core while still adding KD to a team that just won 52 games this past season it could have been more honestly addressing literally the team’s biggest weakness this is the most slam dunk move of slam dunk moves and yes there are still some slight concerns on the surface kd will be 37 next year he has a pre-existing injury history these are very valid concerns looking at the Rockets acquiring KD however the Rockets should be in a position that they can mitigate some of those concerns they don’t have to heavily rely on KD getting them a guaranteed 25 30 35 a night in order to be able to win games they’ve got plenty of other guys that can do the heavy lifting throughout the 82 game slog of the regular season or even throughout a 48minute basketball affair kd doesn’t need to be KD for this team to be able to have a chance to win games every night kd can literally just slot in and take the shot diet of Dylan Brooks and Jaylen Green pick up some of their attempts and then you just increase the roles for guys like Alpar Shening a bigger role offensively for him bigger role substantially for Amin Thompson offensively maybe a bigger role for Jabari Smith Jr offensively who will probably be reinserted into the starting lineup now with the uh losses of both Jaylen Green and Dylan Brooks bigger roles for Reed Shepard and Cam Whitmore the Rockets have more than enough talent to close the gap offensively while adding Katie and allowing him to maybe maybe coast a little bit at times you know let him step in and be your closer let him be the guy that gets you a bucket when you absolutely need it but this Rockets team will absolutely still be able to win on the backs of their defense and they won’t need Kevin Durant to drop 25 or 30 every single night for them to have a remote chance to win games and that mantra of sometimes you sometimes me always us it can still apply to this team and there can be nights where KD has a super quiet efficient 18 20 points and other guys step up to the plate and win big and the Rockets are going to be able to win a lot of games with this new dynamic adding a seven foot tall arguably one of the most unguardable if not the most unguardable scorer in NBA history a future Hall of Famer to this Rockets team has them painted as at least you know on paper going to the Western Conference Finals next season you could even just look at this team from this year and if you just replace Jaylen Green and Dylan Brooks with Kevin Durant that team easily gets past the Warriors that team easily gets past the Minnesota Minnesota Timberwolves and that team puts up a really really good fight against the OKC Thunder that are now in the NBA Finals approaching game seven with the Indiana Pacers i’ve maintained this this Thunder team is not unbeatable but you got to take a swing and that’s exactly what Rafel Stone Emodoka and the Houston Rockets did they took a massive swing for Kevin Durant they did not mortgage their future and this is a trade that puts them firmly in the championship discussion starting next season coming up we’re going to break down the deal what the specific logistics are of the trade when we can expect the official deal to be finalized and all the different moving parts concerned here as well as what it means losing Jaylen Green and Dylan Brooks for this team plus we take a look at the future what are the next moves to come out of this what’s next for the Phoenix Suns and the Houston Rockets still owning their draft capital so much stuff to get into we’re going to get there in just one moment first today’s episode is brought to you by Lollipop look Lollipop is a new kind of soda made for people who love the classic taste of soda but want something that actually supports their health with just 2 to 5 g of sugar and 9 g of prebiotic fiber in every single can Lollipop is reimagining soda in a way that’s better for your gut traditional sodas are loaded with sugar like 39 grams in a regular Coke or 44 grams in an orange Fanta ollipop flips that script with just a fraction of the sugar no artificial sweeteners and gut- friendly ingredients like Olly Smart a blend shown to support digestive and overall health it’s soda that tastes like the real thing but actually does something good for your body look I have been a soda fiend my entire life cokes Dr peppers you name it I’m probably chugging it i was really happy when I found Lollipop because it gives you that classic soda taste but knowing that it’s actually good for you and good for your gut good for your overall health is just the push that I needed to be able to make the switch usually I’m a vintage cola guy that’s usually my favorite flavor right now I’ve got the classic root beer on hand this one’s honestly really good as well i haven’t tried a single bad flavor from Lollipop i also really like the crisp apple when I want to switch it up and want something that doesn’t really taste too soda you know you can check them out too get a free can of Lollipop just buy any two cans in store and they’ll reimburse you for one head to drinkllipop.com/lockedonba to claim your free can and find lollipop near you that’s drinkallipop.com/lockedonba and continuing on here at Locked on Rockets your daily podcast home for everything Houston Rockets basketball welcome to all the new Kevin Durant fans too who are hopefully pouring into this show hopefully we can keep you entertained and informed as the Houston Rockets navigate these next steps uh in the aftermath of acquiring KD should be a fun ride and and now that KD saga is over both of these organizations the Rockets and the Suns can figure out their you start plotting their next moves but let’s go ahead and break down this trade and kind of what it means for the Rockets you know to be able to pick up Katie and the outgoing asset cost so this is one of the permutations of the trade that we ultimately broke down we we’ve been spending so much time talking about the KD trade saga the outgoing package being Jaylen Green Dylan Brooks the number 10 overall pick in this year’s draft as well as five second round picks so the Rockets were able to certainly grease the wheels on their package by including uh you know a little a little chest of second round assets without touching any of the other future Suns assets the 2027 first round pick or the 2029 first round pick both still fully unprotected so that is a monumental win for Rafll Stone and the Rockets front office looking at the outgoing pieces though first it hurts to lose Dylan Brooks dylan Brooks ingratiated himself as one of the fan favorites with this Houston Rockets team he went to war every single night for the Rockets he’s a guy that’s really easy to hate when he’s not on your team but absolutely easy to love when he is on your team so the Suns are getting an absolute dog in Dylan Brooks and a guy who is going to go to war every single night whatever that team ultimately looks like um and losing him right at he was the team’s best shooter he was one of the team’s best defenders he helped set the defensive tone and identity for this Rockets roster with EA Odoka but at the end of the day he also had his limitations as a player there were some games where his offensive you know output was you know a little sporadic a little off the charts and even though the three-point shooting became really consistent here in Houston there was always that worry that he would revert back to maybe more so of the player that he was in Memphis maybe that three-point shooting that was off the charts this season close to 40% drops back down to earth next year and god what would that do to the Rockets offense if suddenly their best three-point shooter reverts back to being you know around league average or even worse than league average potentially so losing DB sucks but this Rockets team in the these first two years under Emodoka they’ve learned so much all the other young guys have learned so much they don’t need the training wheels as much anymore right there’s still more than enough defensive versatility on this roster on the wings between Amen Thompson Jabarisma Jr Tari Een Kevin Durant uh Cam Whitmore who needs to figure out the defensive end of the basketball waiting in the wings though there’s still plenty of pieces that will keep together the Rockets defensive identity and I fully expect them to still be a top five defense this next season even but even even with losing Dylan Brooks at the end of the day jaylen Green this is uh going to be tough for some Rockets fans to stomach but the Rockets gave up on Jaylen Green they did and he had plenty of opportunities to show them that he could be the player that they hoped he would become there were rumors about this KD trade all the way back at the trade deadline right and this KD trade has been staring the Rockets in the face for the better part of almost 6 months now and it’s understandable for all the reasons that we laid out in the first segment right the biggest weakness being the inability to get buckets when you needed them jaylen Green when he was drafted was drafted in the archetype of an elite scoring two guard a guy that you could project to be the best scorer on a champion a championship team the guy who could be the best you know bucket getter on a roster that was contending for deep playoff runs and contending for titles and while Jaylen is still a good player and while he has shown immense growth in other areas of his game as a defender as a playmaker the hustle the work ethic it’s all there his offensive game has not grown enough in the four years that he’s been in the NBA to give to have given the Rockets confidence that he was the piece that would eventually lead them to the promised land as their top scorer all the projecting all the posturing Rafel Stone’s answer to my question at the end of season press conference regarding the JG data like it was all just it was all just smoke because they knew internally and this is their decision this is clear as day their decision they moving the moving on from Jaylen Green signifies they did not believe in what he could potentially become down the line and I said this in our recent episode but they value the immediate win now impact and how much Kevin Durant will elevate this Rockets team in the here and now for at least the next two to three years they value that more than any hypothetical future where Jaylen Green continues to grow improve get better maybe become an all-star we’ll see but for his archetype of player to hit it needs to hit at like the 99th percentile outcome otherwise if you’re floating around that 85 80% 85% outcome you can still be a really good player jaylen Green can be the guy that’s going to win you some games by himself when he gets incredibly hot but when he disappears on you when you rely on that 20 25 points tonight and he can’t give that to you like in the playoffs it’s going to be really hard to win and that archetype sounds like a sixth man at the end of the day and maybe that’s going to be Jaylen Green’s role somewhere down maybe that’s going to be his role in Phoenix playing behind Devin Booker and Bradley Beal but it’s sad to see the first pick of the Rockets rebuild gone that number two overall pick that inspired so much hope amongst the fan base and the immediate aftermath of losing James Harden losing a top five player in his prime that hurt right the Rockets Rockets fans hung a lot of hope on Jaylen Green and he did his absolute best to try and deliver that hope to Houston it ultimately didn’t work out but I do wish him the best moving forward as well for Dylan Brooks too wish them both the best in their future professional careers they were always professionals here in Houston they worked hard they did whatever they could do to try and win games for the Houston Rockets and it just came time to move on and it you know the NBA is a business at the end of the day and acquiring Kevin Durant is a no-brainer given what else it cost in this trade um the number 10 overall pick going out that one was always going to be a part of these trade discussions it very much seemed like that was the pick that was going to be the hangup for the Suns and look the Suns get exactly what they want out of this they get a win now player a veteran who can anchor their help anchor their defense and Dylan Brooks they get a young player with a ton of upside potential in Jaylen Green um despite the clunkiness of there being Bradley Beal and Devin Booker in Phoenix so we’ll see ultimately what happens there maybe they ultimately decide to reroute Jaylen Green and send him to a third team who knows uh given the reporting was that they weren’t interested in Jaylen Green at all that number 10 overall pick also prevent presents their first opportunity to add another young talented player to a very old roster you know a roster that needs an infusion of youth and upside ability uh even if they do plan on still competing with Devin Booker as their best player in the here and now um and then the five second round draft picks this is why when the Rockets were coughing up second round picks back in the day to offload Tai Tai Washington and Usman Garuba and all this this is why asset management Twitter was freaking out about just burning assets to get rid of players rather than you know smartly managing those picks um because of moments like this you know one or two second round picks in a vacuum not going to do much loading five second round picks into a confetti cannon and blasting it at a potential KD trade to grease the wheels is huge so credit to Rafel Stone and the Rockets front office for being able to pony up and get this trade over the finish line we don’t know what the reported package was going to be from the Miami Heat but obviously the Suns felt good enough to take the Rockets package the Rockets had to up their ante probably a little bit by including Dylan Brooks instead of it just being the salary filler of Jock Landale and and Aaron Holiday and Nate Williams and whatever they could have done to try to get up to the salary floor of Katie’s $54 million so it’s unfortunate to lose Dylan Brooks but then also you know including those five second round picks that may have been the differencemaker right if the Rockets only had two or three second round picks available maybe they would have gone with the Miami package ultimately we’ll never know but the way this trade breaks down the Rockets absolutely come out on top you get Kevin Durant for pennies on the dollar and it opens up more room it opens up opportunity on the floor for guys like Reed Shepard and Cam Whitmore who haven’t been able to sniff the Rockets rotation this past season so they have an opportunity for still these young guys to take some serious steps forward this next season we’ve seen the flashes from Cam seen the flashes from Reed Shepard and Endodoka spoke so highly of them at his exit press conference almost as if he knew that there would be a way for them to open up some extra opportunity for these young guys to continue to carve out their roles on this Rockets team so coming up what’s next for the Houston Rockets what are the following moves what about the Suns future and how the Rockets still have them in a fantastic position to take advantage of their draft capital further down the line we’re going to get there in just one moment first today’s episode is brought to you by Monarch Money have you ever checked your bank account and wondered “Where did all my money go?” It’s happened to me more often than I’d like to admit between dining out online shopping and entertainment costs it 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Jaylen Green’s contract because of his rookie scale extension uh the trade cannot be finalized until July 6th so this trade has been agreed to in principle between the Rockets and Suns and that means that come draft night a little bit later this week when the Rockets are on the board at pick 10 it’s not really the Rockets so whoever gets selected at pick 10 is going to walk across the stra stage and put on a Rockets hat and take questions about being drafted of the Houston Rockets although everybody in the world is going to know that player is getting sent to the Phoenix Suns so the Suns are making the pick for the Rockets with their own pick at pick number 10 god it’s funny how that works um shout out to Rafel Stone for having the foresight to flip the Nets picks back to Brooklyn and to take hostage of the Suns picks moving forward because my goodness this trade couldn’t have happened these negotiations wouldn’t have taken place if the Rockets didn’t own all this draft capital from Phoenix and the fact that they were able to retain the 2027 and 2029 first round picks of the Suns is unbelievable that I felt like those were going to be the hang-ups on this trade and honestly there wouldn’t have it wouldn’t have shocked me if there was an outcome where the Suns chose to deal KD somewhere else because they felt you know slighted or frustrated that Houston was unwilling to give them some of their future draft capital back in case things go wrong in these next couple years trying to compete with a team led by Devin Booker and Jaylen Green and Dylan Brooks and whatever else they’re able to do in the aftermath of the KD trade because that’s the thing is the Suns now have two years they’ve got this next season and then they’ve got the 26 27 season to try and compete at the highest level and if they implode at all across these next two years the Rockets are going to be sitting there waiting with baited breath waiting to capitalize on that 2027 first round pick which has a chance to be really really good if Phoenix flounders in a stacked Western Conference that isn’t getting any easier or especially that 2029 pick where if Phoenix can’t put together a winning roster in the next couple years you think Devin Booker is really going to want to ride it out in the desert and wasting his prime years no he’s going to request a trade he’s going to put in a trade demand and then the Suns are going to have to offload Devin Booker and the Rockets are going to be sitting there still owning their draft capital this was a masterclass GM move by Rafel Stone and one more bit that I want to talk about here is I want to give the Rockets front office and in particular Rafllstone a ton of credit here because this is a hard pill to swallow to admit to basically signal hey like we believed in Jaylen Green but now we have to choose to move on that’s why executives get paid the big bucks that’s why fans aren’t in these front offices and that’s why on this very podcast I and my co-hosts and this show has received a lot of a lot of flack and a lot of hate because at the end of the day you have to be able to recognize when it’s time to move on from a player when that player is not going to be able to take you where you want to go or accomplish the things you want to accomplish and I want to give the Rockets front office and Refellstone all the credit in the world for identifying and recognizing you know what we tried with Jaylen Green we gave him two years in a winning environment he had the keys from the moment that he was drafted as a rookie he got all the reps all the opportunities across four years and in that four years just didn’t show enough for them to have the confidence in him moving forward and that’s why they made the KD trade so ton of credit there to admit hey we might have missed on him with the number two pick but it still ultimately turned into acquiring Kevin Durant and now putting this team in a position where they could be competing or will not even could will be competing for titles for the next two or three years even as these other young guys are coming into their own so what’s next for the Rockets here first off um the next probably biggest thing uh is well they’re they don’t have any draft pick they don’t have a first round pick at least in this year’s NBA draft but who knows maybe Refellstone pulls you know a rabbit out of a hat and swings a draft night trade and maybe the Rockets do elect to bring in a little bit of young talent i wouldn’t hold my breath on that i feel like the Rockets are probably not going to do anything crazy on draft night it feels like all of their next subsequent moves will be moves that are ultimately made to round out this roster now that they know that they have Kevin Durant now that they know what direction they’re ultimately going in and that means the next biggest move for them to figure out is renegotiating the contract with Fred Van Vleet that is going to be priority number one figuring out what the new deal with Fred Vanble Vleet is going to look like and how they can structure said deal in order to give themselves the most financial flexibility to still have access to hopefully the at least the non-taxpayer MLE um as it’s currently projected by uh Bobby Marx of ESPN with Fred Vanble’s team option sitting on the books um as well as the team option for Aaron Holiday um the contracts for Reed Shepard and Ken Whitmore Tari E the new deal for Steven Adams all that stuff the Rockets projected salary is $25 million right now which puts them clearly into the first apron which means that they don’t have access to the mid-level exception as one of their abilities to improve the roster now that being said they can get below that first apron depending on how they renegotiate the contract for Fred Van Vleet and that’s going to be the sweet spot is my is making sure that they’re able to resign Fred Vanbleet on a team-friendly contract for the next three or four years and getting it just low enough to be able to access the at least the taxpayer MLE i don’t just looking at the numbers I don’t know that there’s a way for them to get low enough below the tax bracket in order to be able to use the uh non- taxpayer MLE but uh we’ll be exploring that as a potential option in a future episode so be on the lookout for that this is just immediate reaction have had very little time to kind of wrap my head around everything but figuring out Fred’s contract is going to be priority priority numero uno for this team uh after figuring out Fred’s contract um that’s when they need to you know start looking at other spots in the roster be it with you know that potential MLE be it with vet minimums how they want to ultimately flesh things out on this roster but looking at looking at it on paper right now you’ve got a projected starting lineup of Fred Van Vleet Amin Thompson Jabarius Jr Kevin Durant Albor and Chingun with a reserved unit of Reed Shepard Cam Whitmore Tari Een and Steven Adams that’s your core nine-man rotation and then outside of those guys they do still have some free agents that they could ultimately elect to bring back they’ve got Jeff Green that they could bring back on a vet minimum they’ve got Aaron Holidayiday that they can bring back on his team option um they’ve got Jan Tate whose contract became you know came up and maybe Tate elects to move on to another team that has more of a concrete role for him but he’s been the captain of the stay ready crew for a couple years now and he’s been an important piece whenever other guys have missed significant time for Eay Odoka to be able to rely on he fits the mentality and identity of this team i’d really like to say see J Shantate stay but only if he’s willing to stick around right on a vet minimum kind of contract a cheap team friendly deal and given the direction of this team and the fact that they are about to start vying for titles left and right over these next two or three years maybe this is a place where Tate would like to stay rather than bouncing to another organization to make a little bit more money still probably in a reserve role but uh the Rockets do have options here to ultimately flesh out the roster uh this is still a roster that looks to be in desperate need of some shooting uh both Cam Whitmore and and Reed Shepard should provide some additional shooting assuming they’re able to crack the rotation this next season we know that Aaron Holidayiday provides shooting so maybe the Rockets bring him back as some insurance for Reed Shepard if he’s not quite ready to be in the rotation this next season although if if Reed’s not ready to be in the rotation in year two then there might be some alarm bells ringing about their uh about their future with him and potentially being able to to uh take over the reigns from Fred Van Vleet at the end of the day but uh I’m trying to make sure that I don’t miss on any points that I wanted to hit on here um wow sorry i’m still just trying to I’m like sitting here in shock i’m like I’m like sifting through my notes i’m trying to make sure that I don’t miss any points that I wanted to highlight um yeah i mean I think that’s I think that’s kind of everything the Rockets are now uh they have a a a a concrete direction that they’re going they are trying to win now emodoka is a win now coach he’s done a fantastic job developing the young talent on the roster but this very clearly gives the Rockets a big three in the immediate here and now of Kevin Durant Alpine Shenon and Amin Thompson and the message that I’ve been trying to convey here for so long on this show has been that you know oh and I you know what I had I knew there was one more thing that I wanted to hit on the KD extension there we go that’s the important bit is KD was projected to sign a two-year extension wherever he ultimately got traded um and for the Rockets acquiring KD being on that short list of teams uh that you know he ultimately wanted to go to signifies that the Rockets are going to eventually at some point this offseason ink that extension with Kevin Durant that’s the benefit of being on his short list of preferred teams they’re not taking a one-year swing at KD this isn’t a situation where KD comes to Houston plays one season and then bounces and goes to the highest bidder next no the Rockets are going to have KD for at minimum two to three years the likelihood is they’ll sign a two-year extension um and that’ll guarantee the Rockets have KD on their roster for at least the next three seasons while Amin Thompson and Alpar and Shinkun continue to grow and get better maybe we see a Min Thompson’s first all-star selection this next season hell there’s a reality where the Rockets could have three all-stars this next year between Kevin Durant Al Brining and Amin Thompson only time will tell how those guys develop what this team ultimately looks like on paper though this is a title contender on paper this is a team that can go toe-to-toe with the OKC Thunder on paper this is a team that could be bringing the third title to the city of Houston somewhere in these next couple years and that’s really exciting stuff to think about so I’m excited um and I will say Rafel so I I I we tried we tried to get it done on the Podfather’s birthday we tried to get it done for Ben Dubose the KD trade was a little late for him his birthday on the 18th my birthday was the 21st and knowing that Rafllstone was up in the wee hours of the night uh on my birthday trying to get a KD trade facilitated to Houston he pulled it off a little later than I would have liked but a hell of a birthday present excited for the future of this team excited to see what other moves they’re going to be making and of course we’ll have you guys covered for all of that right here at Locked on Rockets if you want to go check out Locked on Suns see their reaction to the news see what their expectations are out of this trade and what the next steps are for them we’ll probably do another crossover between Suns and Rockets here in the notsodistant future so be on the lookout for that of course we’re going to have you covered for all this reaction all the analysis uh all the all the news everything going on with this trade in the coming days and weeks but with that that’s going to do it for today’s episode as always thank you so much for checking out the show uh whether it’s on a podcast platform on YouTube thank you so much for being here with us 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 while you’re there but as always thank you so much for watching thank you so much for listening we look forward to having you back right here at Locked on Rockets your daily podcast home for everything Houston Rockets basketball

BREAKING: Kevin Durant TRADED To Rockets In BLOCKBUSTER Deal | Will Houston DOMINATE The West?

Kevin Durant joins the Houston Rockets in a blockbuster trade. Is this the move that propels the Rockets to NBA championship contention?

Host Jackson Gatlin (@JTGatlin) breaks down the seismic shift in the NBA landscape as KD heads to H-Town. The discussion covers the trade details, including the departure of Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks, and analyzes the immediate impact on the Rockets’ title aspirations. Gatlin explores how Durant’s arrival reshapes the team’s strategy, potential roster moves, and the long-term implications for both Houston and Phoenix.

Tune in for an in-depth look at the Rockets’ new Big Three of Durant, Alperen Sengun, and Amen Thompson, and discover why this trade could be the key to unlocking Houston’s championship potential.

#Rockets #NBA #KevinDurant #Trade

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