Grading The BLOCKBUSTER Kevin Durant Houston Rockets Trade
so I’m giving this a C minus with a a a big chance to rise up like there is a chance that you could do revisions and that you can get this up higher the number 10 pick is a great asset there is a chance that that becomes a foundational building block to this team next to Devin Booker for the rest of his career we have seen allstars and superstars go with the 10th pick plus you might be able to package some of the other draft capital you have and maybe you can move up even more or you can move up in the second round plus you still have the 29th pick you are loaded with four draft picks two in each round and one in the top 10 in this year’s draft that’s not nothing dylan Brooks is not nothing he’s going to bring grit to this team he’s going to bring personality and he’s going to bring this idea of toughness that Jordan Matt HB Brian Gregory have been preaching that this team desperately lacked and we were all were lamenting about last season nobody threw a punch last season they might this season with Dylan Brooks in that locker room right and then five second round picks there is some flexibility there my main thing is if you can use that to get off of Bradley Beal if you can draft a foundational piece with 10 and if Jaylen Green develops into something or you move them there’s a chance that this can get bumped up because you weren’t going anywhere with Kevin Durant you had to trade him and you were backed into a corner so I’m going to step off here i want to hear all of y’all’s trades uh grades and everything in the chat sound off shout out to all of you for jumping in on a Sunday and uh I will talk to you all again very very soon thank you Eric um I I want to get your guys’ grades for the deal as well uh thank you everyone for being here with us on a Sunday please make sure to leave a like it helps us a lot leave us a fivestar review if you are enjoying us uh or even if you’re not and you’re just here leave us a fivestar review because it helps uh Stephen I’ll go to you first what would you grade this trade and I know that trade grades are tough because a lot of the times they’re spur of the moment we have no idea how it’s going to pan out down the road we don’t know what subsequent moves are going to follow um but gut reaction here immediate reaction what would you grade it yeah because of the value and the optionality that the number 10 pick gives you that you just simply did not have in any capacity prior to this trade happening in addition to the potential of Jaylen Green and the three-point shooting and toughness prowess of Dylan Brooks i don’t think it could be anything less than a B minus okay okay and I I see I see avenues that it could work on the court with Jaylen Green and Deon Booker obviously it’s not the most maybe natural per se because they’re both kind of more combo guards than one being established as a one and a two and obviously with the size the size part of it as well when you bring that in but I feel like you can see where they’re trying to get to in terms of the roster that they’re looking to build for Jordan not in season one and because of that and what the potential of deals to come gives them based off of the picks that they got in the second round in particular it gives them some options so I’m going B minus i you know I think the only real grade that you can give it is an incomplete but I know that’s not the exercise right so at best it’s a C minus to me and if this is if there’s no subsequent larger moves the rest of the offseason it’s an F like because if this is if this is the big move you make if this is the the the plan the big plan and you run in into the season with where we’re sitting now it’s it’s an F because you’re not I I I don’t feel very good about it but I I refuse to believe that this is it and that there are subsequent dominoes that you’re looking at to try to figure out but if you go in with Devin Booker Jaylen Green Bradley Beal uh and freaking Grayson Allen all on your roster uh you know and then you don’t really address any of the other major issues uh in a big way then it’s an F and I will agree with everybody that the deal was misguided but right now it’s it’s a C minus because I don’t know what the subsequent stuff is yeah I think that’s fair i’m probably in the C category right now c or C minus and it’s going to depend on what comes next for me as well like there has to be a subsequent idea lined up for Bradley Beal whether that’s buying him out and stretching and waving whether that’s trading him somewhere uh I I just I don’t think it’s tenable to have Jaylen Green Bradley Beal and Devin Booker on the same team next year and expect Booker to remain patient we knew that this upcoming season was going to be a step backward in terms of expectations um you know this this organization still believes that they’re going to compete for a playoff spot but in terms of championship or bust expectations everybody involved knows that that’s not going to be the case this upcoming year uh but if you have those four shooting guards on your team not to mention undersized wings and Dylan Brooks and Royce O’Neal as good as they are at what they do uh you are asking for a sub 35 win season in my mind so there has to be more lined up i’m gonna bear that in mind when I give this grade because I do like what Dylan Brooks brings in terms of checking a lot of the boxes of the identity that they want to establish being more defensive- minded tougher grittier i appreciate all of that i don’t think Jaylen Green is as bad as he’s been made out to be but I do think combined with that con that contract he’s he kind of feels like a negative asset right now and he’s going to have to prove a lot of people wrong that he can fit with Deon Booker the number 10 pick is the most exciting part of the deal by far to me um and we’ll obviously spend maybe a little bit of time at the end of this show and then probably all of tomorrow discussing the prospects that they should be looking at with that number 10 pick um but there are some decent options on the wing and at the center spot which we know they desperately need at number 10 that I think could help them out so I’m going to go with a C on this one
Kevin Durant has finally been traded, what grade would you give the Phoenix Suns or the Houston Rockets? The return for Phoenix is Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, the 10th overall pick in the 2025 NBA draft and FIVE second round picks, is this enough for Mat Ishbia, Devin Booker, Bradley Beal and company?
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34 Comments
Fingers crossed we take a sg at 10
You might not know it yet but you guys won this trade. JG is a lot better then you think.
Suns need to get a leader on the floor. More trades should come
A friend forwarded me a Twitter post of Book requesting a trade. That’s bogus, right?
Another crummy Twitter post that was forwarded to me had all our good players listed at SG and no players listed at the other four spots.
Isaiah thomas will send yall down the wrong path if you let him
The big problem is the all of your best players are shooting guards. Booker, Beal, Green, Brooks, Allen are your best players and all play the same position.
Jalen Green just had his best season at 23 yrs old. He's gonna be frustrating in the playoffs for a year but from there he is got Book to learn from. This team 5 highest paid players now are shooting guards, they will move 2 or 3 of them.
KD dropping 40 on the suns next season
This trade is a F. If they didn’t get Jabari smith it was a F the suns were basically the rockets trash can in this deal they gave away a bunch of pieces they didn’t want.
Man y’all are sleeping on JG. He’s 23 and a slasher. He’s getting better and is athletic. Exactly what the Suns were missing. Of course the Suns will do more. And all of you guys know they’re working on moving other players. B- is my grade since Jabari wasn’t included.
C minus lmao suns are mad as hell 😂
Let me guess A+ from all the fan boys
I don’t know why people are saying suns got fleeced. We literally had no leverage.
I frequently love hearing your perspective, Erik, but how do you underestimate/overlook Jalen Green? He's was the number 2 pick in 2021 for a reason. I've been following him since his high school days. Green is a scorer yes. But he gives effort on defense, as well. JG is a dawg consistently in attack mode. He's an asset still developing with strong upside. Yes, he plays the same position as Book. But that has nothing to do with his skill set.
I'm with Espo in that there will be more to come. This is incomplete. I believe there are more moves to be made.
Jalen gonna be a star
Phx sleeping on Jalen Green. Dude had a better season than Devin Booker last year and was a borderline all star. He also was the leading scorer on a stacked Rockets teams who was number 2 in the western conference.
JG and Brooks help bring energy and tenacity that this team sorely lacked. At the very least we will be fun to watch, kd was so slow and methodical which only works when he is not the best player on the team especially at 37
Gerald looks so bummed the whole first minute of this video while homie is trying to be optimistic haha I’m actually not that mad at it. It’s so funny how much different everyone would be looking at this trade if we got one more ancillary player like Jabari, Eason, etc. they gave us 5 2nds that we can use as capital to move up this draft or in future drafts or to get rid of Beal we also can flip green for hopefully a center we have options and we’ll see how it fully turns out
Remember we got to the finals the year before we got KD and never came close again.
He's a great player but doesn't elevate players around him.
He was supposed to free up booker but both of them got swarmed constantly.
Good luck to KD it just didn't work out here
Is a Houston rockets fan. I do not care about Kevin Durant. I do care about getting rid of Jalen green and Dillon Brooks contract. I also care about not getting rid of any of the young good players we actually have. This is a win-win trade in my opinion, especially if we get rid of Durant after this year
From a rockets fan, enjoy brooks/green and fighting for a playin spot for next several years
dude with the orange glasses, kd is a 40 year old, this was the best deal they could get period. suns were going nowhere with kd they couldnt even make the play in‼️
Suns hold this L
Beal plus 10 to get him out of here ?
This is the deal I was talking about or had in my mind for ages – I think Brookes is a big piece – we needed some agro and toughness and he will bring it. Bringing in Jalen Green means more trades and changes will happen as Gambo says Suns intend to keep him and see how he develops. Think we did the best we could shame we couldn't get another first back instead of all those 2nds. Wondering whats next ?
36 win? I can describe next season in 4 letters…TANK…oh, and getting smacked a few times by KD.
Rockets fup
Green would of took the next step next year scoring 28 per game
If you think this is over, you are crazy. Don't be surprised if the package we got for KD plays a role in dumping Beal and/or getting better fit players.
It all depends on the #10 pick. If we get a guy who can be a solid starter on a rookie contract, it’s a B+
Durant Missed 169 games in Last 5 years Trade is Solid For Suns. Now Emergency goodbye to Beal. So Far Good Job Suns
Houston got exactly what they needed – Someone with ability to create & make shots at clutch situations
Suns got nothing of what we needed – We had SF in Dunn, we had multiple SGs in Book, Beal, Allen. We needed size and/or ball handler. Green is great, Brooks is nice, but they are not what we needed from the KD trade.
So unless we can flip one of two of them into other positions, or unless we make a hit in the draft, or unless we use those picks to trade Beal into multiple usable players, this trade is at maximum, a C+ for the Suns.