Kevin Durant traded to Rockets *Emergency Pod*

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Athletic NBA Daily - Kevin Durant Traded to Rockets Emergency Pod

Episode Details:

• Title: Kevin Durant Traded to Rockets Emergency Pod
• Release Date: June 22, 2025
• Host: The Athletic (Dave DuFour, Zena Keita, Esfandiar Baraheni)

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1. Introduction to the Emergency Pod [02:10 - 02:44]

The podcast kicks off with Dave DuFour announcing a breaking update: Kevin Durant has been traded from the Phoenix Suns to the Houston Rockets. This unexpected move occurs on the morning of Game 7 of the NBA Finals, prompting immediate analysis and discussion among the hosts.

2. Details of the Trade [02:44 - 03:00]

• Phoenix Suns' Assets Given Up:

  • Kevin Durant
  • Number 10 overall pick in the upcoming draft
  • Jalen Green
  • Dylan Brooks
  • Five second-round picks

• Houston Rockets' Acquisitions:

  • Kevin Durant

3. Houston Rockets' Perspective [03:00 - 07:00]

Immediate Impact:

Zena Keita highlights that Houston secures an "immediate score in Kevin Durant," projecting him to average "27-28 per night." This addition addresses the Rockets' prior struggle with clutch scoring, particularly in the fourth quarter.

Team Flexibility:

Esperaheny commends Houston for maintaining flexibility by retaining young talent like Jabari Smith Jr., Amen Thompson, and others. This ensures Houston doesn't compromise its future potential despite the high-profile trade.

Strategic Fit:

Dave DuFour notes that Durant's presence should synergize well with existing players like Alperen Şengün, Stephen Adams, and Jabari Smith Jr., enhancing both offensive and defensive plays. The addition of Durant is seen as a significant upgrade, providing leadership and scoring prowess that the Rockets previously lacked.

Notable Quote:

"Houston is looking scary like this. This is awesome for them." — Zena Keita [03:31]

4. Phoenix Suns' Perspective [07:00 - 14:00]

Asset Management:

Esperaheny discusses Phoenix's strategic move to trade Durant without mortgaging their future, retaining key assets and draft picks. This ensures Phoenix maintains control over their rebuilding process and future acquisitions.

Roster Concerns:

The Suns are grappling with integrating key players like Devin Booker, Bradley Beal, and Jalen Green. Zena points out the redundancy in shooting guards, questioning how Phoenix will optimize their lineup post-trade.

Potential Moves:

Dave DuFour speculates that Phoenix might leverage their number 10 pick to acquire another valuable player, although he acknowledges uncertainty due to the Suns' current roster dynamics.

Notable Quote:

"They now control the Sun's destiny, they still have their flexibility." — Esperaheny [03:59]

5. Benefits and Drawbacks for Both Teams [14:00 - 23:00]

Houston Rockets:

• Benefits:

  • Immediate boost in scoring and leadership
  • Enhanced clutch performance in late-game situations
  • Retention of team flexibility and young talent

• Drawbacks:

  • Kevin Durant's age (36) and injury proneness
  • Potential locker room dynamics and integration with existing players

Phoenix Suns:

• Benefits:

  • Acquisition of draft picks and young talent to fuel future growth
  • Avoidance of long-term financial commitments associated with Durant
  • Ability to retool roster without significant sacrifices

• Drawbacks:

  • Loss of a top-tier scorer and leader in Durant
  • Uncertainty in optimizing the current lineup with remaining shooting guards

Notable Quote:

"We're out here playing ball. This is what I care about. That's it." — Zena Keita [24:44]

6. Grading the Trade [23:00 - 28:28]

Both hosts provide their assessments of the trade:

• Houston Rockets:

  • Grade: A
  • Rationale: Immediate improvement in scoring and team performance, strategic acquisition without overextending future assets.

• Phoenix Suns:

  • Grade: Pending
  • Rationale: While retaining future flexibility, the long-term success hinges on how Phoenix leverages their new assets and restructures their roster.

Notable Quote:

"I'm giving Houston an A. They fixed the problem that was glaring last year directly, immediately." — Zena Keita [28:28]

7. Conclusion and Final Thoughts [28:28 - 29:54]

The hosts conclude by emphasizing the significant impact of Kevin Durant's trade, acknowledging the immediate benefits for Houston while recognizing the uncertainties Phoenix faces. They anticipate ongoing discussions and evaluations of the trade's outcomes throughout the summer, especially as Phoenix maneuvers in the draft and potential free agency.

Notable Quote:

"If you look at how he played last year, this is still a guy who looks like a top 10 player." — Zena Keita [27:23]

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Key Takeaways:

• Houston Rockets' Acquisition of Kevin Durant:

  • Provides an immediate boost in scoring and leadership.
  • Addresses previous shortcomings in clutch performance.
  • Maintains team flexibility with existing young talent.

• Phoenix Suns' Strategic Trade:

  • Retains valuable draft picks and young players for future rebuilding.
  • Faces challenges in optimizing their shooter-heavy lineup without Durant.
  • Potential for future trades to strengthen the team.

• Overall Assessment:

  • Houston gains a veteran superstar, strengthening their competitive edge.
  • Phoenix positions itself for future growth but must navigate current roster complexities.

Notable Quotes:

• "Houston is looking scary like this. This is awesome for them." — Zena Keita [03:31]
• "They now control the Sun's destiny, they still have their flexibility." — Esperaheny [03:59]
• "I'm giving Houston an A. They fixed the problem that was glaring last year directly, immediately." — Zena Keita [28:28]
• "If you look at how he played last year, this is still a guy who looks like a top 10 player." — Zena Keita [27:23]

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This detailed analysis captures the essence of the emergency pod, providing listeners with comprehensive insights into the Kevin Durant trade's implications for both the Houston Rockets and the Phoenix Suns.

Transcript

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[Dave Duor]

All right everybody, we are live. Kevin Durant just traded the Athletic NBA Daily Emergency Podcast. I thought this was over. Guys, I'm Dave Defor here with Esperaheny and Zena Kada on the morning of the NBA Finals Game 7. And of course guys, we are here talking about Kevin Durant as usual. Heading into the summer, Kevin Durant gets moved from Phoenix to the Rockets for the number 10 overall pick in the upcoming draft. Jalen Green, Dylan Brooks, five second round picks, guys who won the trade? I think this is easy.

[Zena Kada]

Houston. Yeah, I think it's so. It's so obvious. Number one, you get an immediate score in Kevin Durant. 27, 28 per night. You bet on that. And then you didn't give up your future. Right? Like you, you have Alperin, you have Amen, you have. And then you have a veteran point guard still with Fervently, that can play with a player like Kevin Durant. But the biggest one that we always forget, Somehow Jabari Smith Jr. Wasn't in that trade. That is so exciting for Houston. You've got this size. You didn't mortgage your future. And for the next two, three years, like Houston, depending on how long KD wants to play, Houston is looking scary like this. This is awesome for them.

[Esperaheny]

Yeah, I. I love the fact that they still keep. Kept their flexibility, the fact that they still have young guys, they can give more opportunity to read shepherd and Cam Whitmore if they want to. They can make trades still this offseason to add to this group the fact that they still have their young guys and Jabari Smith Jr. Also, the fact that they still didn' up any of the Sun's future picks other than this 10th pick that they're giving back to them. So they still control the Sun's destiny.

[Dave Duor]

In a little bit of a way.

[Esperaheny]

And they maintain their flexibility to go out and make trades, to maybe make a signing here or there. And honestly, they got off of Jalen Green's contract. I know that's kind of harsh to say, but ultimately, you know, Jalen Green signed on for an extension for this year. The Rockets had a really impressive season, and in the brightest moments, Jalen Green kind of fell short. And so they got off of a contract, got a major upgrade in Kevin Durant, and we've talked about it ad nauseam, but like the clutch scoring issue for KD and the Rockets, right. It was a huge issue for Houston to score in the clutch. And in fourth quarters, they now add a guy who instantly gives them that kd.

[Dave Duor]

Yeah, theoretically, he should play well with Sengun, you know, spaces the floor, can slide up, play, play the four in some of those smaller lineups that they like to do with Jabari Smith at the 5. Actually, like, it's kind of interesting. You can play them with Stephen Adams. I mean, he's a guy that plugs into every single lineup they like to run. Their defense doesn't take a huge drop off, in my opinion, because KD can actually elevate you there, too, with a little bit more rim protection, which they can always use. So, I mean, I think this is a. This is a pretty good move for the Rockets because you didn't have to give up very much. I mean, I think if you, if you get into a world in which you're giving up Reed Shepard, Jabari Smith, these guys, it was way too much. What we were hearing earlier this to Me is more in line with what you get for what is ostensibly a rental on kd. Just because he's so old. Right. It's not like you're trading for him in his prime when he's 30 years old, he's 36. You're hoping he has two good seasons left in him, which he probably does. I mean, if we're judging him based on last year, the Phoenix side of this guys, they get a young scorer in Jalen Green that goes next to. To Devin Booker. They're gonna have to figure out what they're doing with Bradley Beal. My assumption, he's gonna be there playing because he likes Phoenix. Dylan Brooks again instantly goes into their starting lineup. And now they have three guys that they. They can rely on. Whereas last season, how many times can you say that they had three players s that. That you could count on night to night? Yeah. Yeah.

[Esperaheny]

It's just weird to me to think of the rotation next season. Oh my God, yes.

[Zena Kada]

Can you.

[Esperaheny]

My thing is like, think of it like this. Phoenix has now Devin Booker, Bradley Beal, Jalen Green, Grayson Allen, Royce o' Neill. All of these guys play similarly in a similar position. Right. They all play shooting guard. That's the funny part about this. And it's like how do the Suns. How's. How are they going to be able to fix this?

[Dave Duor]

What?

[Esperaheny]

How are they going to be able to make this a. I think.

[Dave Duor]

I think he's saying how is he. How is the Sun's gonna make this a competitive team with. With basically nothing left on their roster? Although he sounds like the voice of Zordon from the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers right now too. So it's hard to tell. I mean, Xena, look, they. They've got a lot of holes to plug obviously in in their lineup and their rotations, but they had this number 10 pick, right?

[Zena Kada]

Yeah.

[Dave Duor]

So maybe this is a pick that they can go ahead and just flip for another good player now. Right. Like they. They drafted pretty well last year. We. We all like Ryan Dunn and, and Oso Iguidara. I don't know if this is the sort of team that. That is gonna get the talent that they need at number 10. Right. If this was a top three pick, you take it. But a number 10 pick, you probably are looking to move it and see if you can't get another useful rotation piece.

[Zena Kada]

Absolutely. And I think that that's why when you look at the Phoenix Suns and you look at this trade overall, why I still think that Phoenix. Juan too is they get off of kd. They get off of age as well and they get pieces to play with in the market and that's what they needed. They needed to be able to come to conversations with something to offer other than older talent or a Bradley Beal that ultimately even if he was in a conversation, he could easily say no. So they now, they now have these things that they can flip, especially that number 10 pick. But also the five second rounds, like that's something that is something to be able to offer folks. And I think that's, you know, when you look at the Houston side of things and who's still on their bench, like they have second rounders that they could probably still move to. So I don't think either one of these teams are done, but I do think that they're. Houston automatically made themselves in a bigger position, whereas Phoenix, I think that over the next few weeks, even actually really the next, like few days before the draft, we're going to see them make some more moves that hopefully put them in a better position. That being said, I still do think, like, actually I want to ask you, like, what are the biggest holes you're seeing in Phoenix's. In Phoenix, you know, situation in terms of. I know they have a lot of shooting. Yeah, they do have a lot of shooting. I do feel like, you know, obviously a big wing is necessary. They don't have that.

[Dave Duor]

I think Dylan Brooks, they're probably going to use him in that role. Right. As that.

[Zena Kada]

Sure.

[Dave Duor]

As that wing stopper on defense. On defense. Kind of like what he's been doing for, for Houston the last couple years.

[Zena Kada]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Dave Duor]

I mean, Dylan Brooks is a good and useful player, but it does seem like once you get to the point where you're trying to be, you know, a conference finalist, that's not the guy that you necessarily want to have out there. I mean, it's what we saw in the playoffs for the Houston Rockets last year. He's a, he is a nice. Like, if he's your fifth starter, that's great. If he's your third best starter, that's a problem. I think that this at least is a move in the right direction for Houston. Right. Like they upgrade the talent on the court. They have a person that they can go to down the stretch and then they don't have a guy like Dylan Brooks who's out there eating up shots. I think that's a win, win, win. Right. Whereas for Phoenix, they probably need him to get up shots. Like one of the things that they need is a higher volume 3 point wing. They do, right? They need a guy who's willing to take six or seven a game to open the driving lanes up for, for Devin Booker and now for Jalen Green. Whether those guys can, can survive defensively with Jalen Green out there is another story, right? Like, is Nick Richards enough at the center? What's this team? I mean, they're not even done. Like you said, they got this, these five second round picks. And people maybe don't realize this, but when LeBron left Cleveland, they started their whole rebuild with second round picks. They were jumping in on the, like Kobe Altman was. He was jumping in on the back of other trades, picking up a second here, a bad contract there. And this is actually one of the few ways in which NBA teams without assets can stack them up. Because now you can flip a couple of seconds and maybe get a late first. I mean, you can actually do things like if they're thinking, what if they're thinking about moving up in a draft, like this draft, for instance. So now they're armed with the number 10, they've got all these seconds. I mean, maybe they can pull something off. I don't, I don't see it. Because I don't think they've got the players on the roster that other teams are going to want if they're giving up a higher pick, like, let's say Philadelphia, you know, you don't have the level of player to get that pick from Philly, unless you're talking about Devin Booker. And I don't think the Suns are going to do that.

[Zena Kada]

Yeah, I don't either.

[Dave Duor]

Rightfully. Yeah.

[Zena Kada]

I, I'm wondering though, for me, I feel like Jalen Green, though, is on the cusp. Like, I feel like he needs one off season to really lock in and figure out how do I become more than just a microwave scorer, Someone that can, you know, put up a lot of shots one game, make a lot of them, and the next game be a dud.

[Dave Duor]

Right.

[Zena Kada]

He's just been so inconsistent, but it's there. The athletic ability is there. The ability to get to the rack is there. The ability to jump over everyone that's in front of him is there. I do really, I just. This is really predicated too on how well this works out. Is really predicated on just like how much Jalen Green gets in the gym this summer and whether that's alongside Devin Booker on his own and figures out like, yo, I'm tired of people talking about me not being this superstar, because I am, I am and I Think we all remnant would you say is.

[Dave Duor]

That night in, night out stuff with, with Jalen where it's missing, right. Like you said, he'll have a game where he'll put up 35 and you say, wow, this guy might be able to do it. Can he be their guy down the stretch? Now part of this also for Houston is that they don't have a great offense. They do not have a great system that they lean on. And so when you get a guy like kd, that automatically is going to give them a person to get the ball and get, and get looks off of. But it's not like they're out there running a lot of stuff. You don't get a ton of high ball screens even, you know, they don't, they don't have that sort of setup. And now I think they're even more limited in the ways that they can run their offense because KD is not going to be coming off a bunch of high ball screens. You know what I mean? He's, he's not gonna be running on, off the ball, lot of off ball movement. Right? That's just not gonna happen. And so, you know, it is what it is. But these guys now around him, everyone goes down a notch in the, in the pecking order. So now when you run to the end of a shot clock and Fred Van Vliet is launching one of those grenades at the shot clock, it's coming off Kevin Durant. So you've got a little bit more space than what these guys are used to. So hopefully they're not, they're not actually grenades that, that you're getting looks with, you know what I mean? And like last year, this was such a, especially in the playoffs when things tightened up for them, they sort of fell off. And the Phoenix side of this, I, I just think that this is the first move that they have to make to, to fill out their roster, obviously. But I like Jalen Green, I think a lot more than other NBA commenters. I mean, you know, again, that ability.

[Zena Kada]

To score so close.

[Dave Duor]

Yeah, the thing is, it's not just the ability to score. I actually think he's got some more defensive upside. We see stuff from him, you know, he makes plays defensively. He is skinny though. And so there is a certain amount of, like, there's a limitation to what those guys can do as far as defensively on the ball. But I, I still think that when you've got that level of competitiveness that he typically has, I mean, this is a guy you can at least Work with. He's not a turnstile defensively so he can play next to Devin Booker. I'm not really worried about that. The bigger question with Phoenix is, you know, again, Bradley Beals is a question, what do you do there? You know, how do you convince him that. That he's a piece that should be moved or that he wants to move? And then what do they do? Yeah, and then what else do they do? Right. Like, look at the West.

[Zena Kada]

That's what I'm thinking about. Right.

[Dave Duor]

Better. Clearly. They got better. Clearly. Although they, they lost some depth because I do think Dylan Brooks is going to be a piece that they miss at some point during the season. He eats a lot of minutes and he takes a lot of shots, so they will miss him at some point along the way.

[Zena Kada]

I don't know. I feel like the young guys are going to step up. That's the thing about Houston that I like is that they, the people that you mentioned are going to go down a notch, are also still malleable. They are still people that you can mold their game and change the way that they play. I look at Jabari Smith Jr. Yes, he was played at the 4 and the 5 a lot. I feel like he could play the 3 as well. Coming off like Kevin Durant comes off the court, he comes in at the 3 and they're playing Stephen Adams and Shangon at the 4 and 5, which we saw a little bit. Yeah, we saw that. And so I just feel like every single one of these players that are young on this team, whether it's Amen Thompson, Tar eason, Jabari Smith Jr. Some of these guys are like not clearly a five or not clearly. You know, I feel like they all will kind of rotate in the way they change. Now will you find a Dylan Brooks person on that bench? Like that size is not replicable. Right? Like that's not something you could just kind of mold yourself into. But I definitely think people are going to put up more shots if they need it. Like if IME Udoka is like, yo, let it fly, I feel like that's gonna happen. So that part doesn't worry me as much as much as like. Because I feel like everyone can change around them. I'm looking more so like on the Phoenix side of things. What you were mentioning around the wing score like that to me is actually most the glaring thing. You just lost KD who's and. And yes, Dylan Brook.

[Dave Duor]

Is it gonna just be right? Is it just going to be a two headed snake of. Of Devin Booker and Jaylen Green. My turn. Your turn. I mean, the truth is like, we just don't know. We don't know anything about the new coach as far as like what his style is going to be.

[Zena Kada]

Oh, that's right.

[Dave Duor]

And then we've got a new GM there with no experience, so we'll see like what does he do roster construction wise over the next few weeks? I mean, it's amazing that, by the way, that this trade happens the day of game seven and not the day after. You know, I, I am, I am kind of struck by the fact that it happened the morning of game seven and they didn't wait until Monday. But that tells me these guys, they've got some stuff they got to get done before the draft, right?

[Zena Kada]

There's a certain sense of urgency, the fact that this happened like also, I don't know if you saw the video of Kevin Durant on stage with Taylor Rooks at Fanatics Fest.

[Dave Duor]

Did not.

[Zena Kada]

He's just sitting in a two person fireside chat pretty much. And everyone in the crowd is like, phone, wait.

[Dave Duor]

While he was traded. Oh, that's amazing.

[Zena Kada]

While he was traded. While he was on stage.

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[Zena Kada]

Man, everyone's like, yeah. Like it was literally. Yeah. It made me think of that Ted lasso show where 20 I think it's Nate that says like 26000 people are checking their phones right when they needed a. They thought they needed to win a game and they actually just needed to tie. And it was like the sound of the entire arena just going like gasp. And I think that that's what happened at Fanatics Fest.

[Dave Duor]

That's. That's kind of amazing. It reminds me of demarcus Cousins being informed of his trade during All Star Weekend while he was being interviewed. So you know, and by the way, this is a pretty good point from the YouTube chat. By the way. We're live on YouTube for if you're just listening to this emergency pod, we go live from Chisholm who's in the chat? Imay wanted him. Eme wanted Kevin Durant and I do think that there's something to that. They tried to get together in Brooklyn previously. Clearly like they have. There's some kind of relationship there. And I think that from a just mentality standpoint, Kevin Durant fits what IME Odoka has tried to train his guys to become. Beat your man offensively, can you beat your man? If you can do that, you can get up as many shots as you want. I think he obviously that's going to be great for KD there. You know, the guy, the guy rolls out of bed and scores 25 points a game. That's the thing, period. And when you can get a guy like that and he can do it at the highest level, meaning like in the NBA Finals, he can do it. So I think and, and this is also a team that AS s laid out, I thought very clearly, still has so many other pieces it can move. Only had to give up this year's Sons pick still has Reed Shepard, who we don't even know.

[Zena Kada]

NBA guy Aaron Holiday. Jock Landau. Like these are again, they've got pieces a lot of. There's some first round picks in there, there's some second round picks in there on the bench. They're shooting on the bench. Like their size on the bench. They have a lot if they wanted to. But the question is, is like what would you move for at this point?

[Dave Duor]

I mean, that's the question. Right now I'm of the opinion that, that Alperin Shingoon is going to create a ceiling for this team similar to what Demonic Bonus does for, for the Kings. If your center is, is at this level, you sort of, you know what. How good your defense could be. And I don't know that that's good enough. His offense also, while it's good. Yeah, yeah, it's not, it's. Again, it's not. He's not Nicola Jokic. And so for me, I mean, that's the guy I would be trying to maybe offload. Especially now that you got KD and you have all these other guys, they still have the ability to make a consolidation trade, but I kind of hope they don't. You know, Kevin Durant. Let's talk about the negatives here with Kevin Durant.

[Zena Kada]

Okay.

[Dave Duor]

He is 36 years old. He has become injury prone. Like the last few seasons he has been in and out of the lineup. A lot of it's acute injuries, you know, that ankle roll during warm ups, you know, like this is. Stuff happens. But he's also older. His body's broken down a little bit. So I, I just think there are going to be some, some things that come kind of with the package of kd. You Know, how is it going to affect the locker room? This was a team that seemed to be pretty tight knit and obviously, look, we talked about their just mentality often going into games. You know, like KD's a little bit more laid back than these guys. So like, how is that stuff going to work? I think it's going to be fine because it's Kevin Durant and so you make it work. But if we're judging, can I give.

[Zena Kada]

You some answers that I think on this question?

[Dave Duor]

Well, I was gonna say, but if we're looking at just what has happened in his recent history, it has not been great adding Kevin Durant to your team.

[Zena Kada]

It, this is his 15, this is going to be his eighth coach in that time. So, you know, just putting out the facts. I, I agree with you, I, I, I mean, I agree with you. All these questions, sure. The question of the body, that is what it is, right? That we know that part. There's nothing we can do. We can't reverse age. But the question of the locker room is a really great one because that was one of the things that we asked about Phoenix. This is Kevin Durant's team. What's your identity? We don't know what, we didn't know who Phoenix was at their core of, what do they, you know, what was their calling card? And Kevin Durant was at the top of that team and it's like, what does he bring here? But what I love is what you actually just laid out is that there is now this through line from the head coach to the guy on the team.

[Dave Duor]

Right.

[Zena Kada]

In terms of the mentality of how you need to go out there, how you need to play the, the trash talk and the, the grittiness that IME operates with. Kevin Durant operates with that too. It's just kind of like a no BS situation. We're out here playing ball. This is what I care about. That's it. And that now is going to permeate, I would imagine, throughout this team as these young guys are playing with their venerated, you know, players they looked up to their entire career. I can't imagine Jabari Smith Jr. Didn't have KD highlights on repeat on his YouTube. Right. Check his YouTube history. I'm sure he was watching that. I'm sure all of them were at some point. So you've got that aspect in terms of the mentality and the locker room and things like that. I also think that there, that Alperin Shangoon comment is interesting. I didn't think about it like, in my opinion, I do think that Alperin Shangoon can still get better.

[Dave Duor]

Oh, yeah.

[Zena Kada]

The defense, though, is the. You're right. I didn't think about, like, there was some questionable defense in terms of protecting the rim, and we know that. And so now I'm looking at, like, even if you move Alper into the four, bring Stephen Adams to the five, that's still a limitation. Like, yes, you'll have a little bit more defense, you'll have a little bit more in position, but then who comes off behind him?

[Dave Duor]

I, I don't think that they'll start that double big. I mean, you know, we will see it some. I mean, it was so successful in the playoffs and obviously they just, they extended Stephen Adams. I mean, he's, he's going to be there next season. I, I think that they probably have some moves to make. As someone in the chat mentioned, they are gonna have to do an extension for KD here. Curious what that number is going to look like and how much that may limit them. We had heard reports that he was willing to take a discount with the. The right team. Maybe, maybe Houston's the right team and it gives them a little bit more cap flexibility. We'll. We'll find that out. Everyone's eyeballing that Jimmy Butler number, and I think that a lot of people are, are wondering, hey, is KD going to be somewhere north of that? And I think that that's a pretty good question anyway as we wrap up. I mean, we got game seven tonight, but let's close the door, or at least our. Let's open the door on, on this KD trade, because we're going to be talking about it probably all summer. Grade it from both sides. What do you give Houston? What do you give Phoenix? You know, it's not. I mean, this is Kevin Durant at 36, so we can, you know, we can make that caveat. But he's still. If you look at how he played last year, this is still a guy who looks like a top 10 player.

[Zena Kada]

Yeah, I'm giving Houston an A. I feel like that's a big grade 9A plus, you know, maybe. Yeah, I think I'm giving them an A. Again, the importance in this league of not giving up, as s mentioned beautifully at the very beginning of this pod. Flexibility, you don't give away your flexibility. And that means you are flexible in that you can either keep making moves because you still have that young depth on your bench, or you don't give away your flexibility in real time in the season next year because you have a depth, you have bench play. Right. And so there's. There's different ways that you can attack that. I definitely give Houston an A in that regard. And you also fix the problem that was glaring last year. Yeah, Directly, immediately. I love that Phoenix. I feel like Phoenix passed the quiz and the test is still here. Right. Like, I feel like we can't quite grade. Like, I like, okay, you did great on the. On the midterm. The final still hasn't happened yet because I got to see how these picks.

[Dave Duor]

We're gonna have to judge Phoenix in, like, August. Like, what have they done? Because this team is gonna, I think, be it pretty different. I mean, not just losing kd, but I think that they've got to add some. Some serious. Some serious bodies. But I think in this trade, they could have done worse. I think getting Dylan Brooks is actually good for them. And I. It's funny to say, but he is a good and useful player in the NBA. And I think that they got another good and useful player, Jalen Green.

[Zena Kada]

Like, we.

[Dave Duor]

We like him a lot. I don't know if he turns into the player that we kind of want him to, but I think at least you get a chance there. But I'm with you. I think Houston, this is an A. You needed a guy. You went out and got one, and you did it this year. You didn't wait until next summer. You didn't wait until the deadline. Like, you went ahead and got it done. So now they've got. They've got time to still work and potentially even make the team even better. All right, well, that's going to do it for the show. Thank you, guys. That turned up on the live stream. I mean, we just turned this thing on and we had a lot of you here. Yeah. So really appreciate you if you caught the live stream. If you're listening, we appreciate you. Of course, as always, for Esperaheni and Zena Kada, I'm Dave Duor, and this has been the Kevin Durant emergency podcast again.

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