The Brooklyn Nets did plenty of wheeling and dealing on Tuesday, including executing a trade with the Houston Rockets.
The Nets-Rockets trade involved Houston sending back the Nets’ 2026 first-round pick it acquired in the James Harden trade in exchange for the Phoenix Suns’ 2027 first-rounder that the Nets owned.
It also included the right for the Rockets to swap their 2025 first-round pick for the Suns’ 2025 first-rounder. At first glance, it might seem odd that Houston wants to relinquish the Nets’ selections, considering the 2025 and 2026 drafts are projected to be strong and Brooklyn should be picking high in at least one of them, if not both.
However, there’s a method to the Rockets’ madness, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst explained Wednesday morning. On Get Up, Windhorst echoed colleague Adrian Wojnarowski’s reporting that Houston is interested in prying star Kevin Durant away from the Suns
“[The Houston Rockets] are interested in tempting the Suns to try to trade them Kevin Durant now,” Windhorst said. “They don’t want to do this later. They want to put this on the table to see if the Suns would be tempted by it.”
Windhorst and Wojnarowski have both said Phoenix does not want to trade Durant, preferring to run things back in 2024-25 with a “Big Three” of the superstar swingman and guards Devin Booker and Bradley Beal.
However, Wojnarowski wrote that Houston could also have interest in Booker should the opportunity arise to trade for the 27-year-old All-Star.
“The Rockets position themselves to be aggressive in future trade scenarios with the Suns should that franchise need to disassemble,” Wojnarowski said. “For now, the Suns plan to keep trying to win with Durant and Devin Booker. But the Rockets acquiring those Phoenix picks gives them an inside track on a possible deal should a Suns star — particularly Booker, who is 27 years old and on the Rockets’ timeline — become available. Durant could become a possibility too.”
The 2024 NBA Draft is tonight, meaning we could see more pick and player movement in the coming hours. Stay tuned.