Kevin Durant is now a member of the Rockets, bringing his veteran experience to a roster filled with young talent. According to Tim Bontemps from ESPN, it was an ideal trade for Houston, especially since they let go of the player who hindered their ability to advance past the Golden State Warriors in the first round of the playoffs this year.
Green is an outstanding athlete, but he struggled significantly with scoring against the Warriors. He had a shooting percentage of under 30% from beyond the arc, and Bontemps believes this shortcoming contributed to the Warriors, led by Steph Curry, securing victory. In contrast, KD remains an elite player even at the age of 36.
Bontemps mentioned on NBA on ESPN: “That is an unbelievable upgrade for the Rockets,” “Big part of why Houston lost in the first round of the playoffs was Jalen Green simply wasn’t good enough as a scorer… under 30% from three, under 40% from the field..”
“Kevin Durant, while he’s not the player he was in the past, he’s still a 50-40-90 guy, that’s an easy 25 on any given night,”
“He completely slots in the role as his team’s primary scorer.”
“Guys like Jabbari Smith, Amen Thompson and Tari Eason can easily fill in the minutes of Dillon Brooks, who was vacated by being part of that trade,”
Furthermore, another player that moved to the Suns to create room for Durant was Brooks, a figure that divides opinion in the NBA. His supporters admire him, while rivals despise him; he is the type of player that championship teams require, someone ready to give maximum effort and leave everything on the floor.
