The Suns traded Kevin Durant. The return should’ve been better. It could’ve been worse.
Jalen Green? Highlight reel talent. High-end potential. But he’s not a two-way player. He’s an inefficient high-volume scorer. Just like Deandre Ayton, he’s a top two pick who simply refuses to get better. Green was also the subject of a mean tweet on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”, described as a player that “has the basketball IQ of a baby hamster.”
After scoring fewer than 10 points in four of seven playoff games, he’s also the player the Rockets were comfortable discarding from their young core. And he’s another shooting guard on a Phoenix roster that is full of them, which means the Suns must trade him when Green’s value has never been lower. Not great, unless the Suns can effectively dispose of Bradley Beal.
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Kevin Durant traded to Rockets for Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks and draft picks
Brooks? Dillon the Villain is a menace. He’s said to be the player you love to hate unless he’s playing for your team. The Suns are going to test that theory. Or maybe they’re going to trade him as well, given his dustups with Devin Booker. But Brooks certainly has the gritty, grimy traits Mat Ishbia is looking for. And he’s the kind of player the Suns have sorely missed since parting ways with Jae Crowder.
The No. 10 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft? This is the key to the deal. The Suns have to nail this pick. Through acumen or luck, this must be where the Suns find their gold. Yet some fans are already fearing the selection Michigan State shooting guard Jase Richardson.
The additional five second-round picks? The Suns will surely use some of these picks to facilitate trades. But the ones they keep must turn into functioning rotation players. Which means the Suns’ scouting department and front office must quickly transform into one of the best in the NBA if they’re going to pull this team out of the ditch.
There is no blind faith. The perception of the Suns has rarely been lower. Trust in ownership has shifted dramatically, and not for the better. But the Suns have a crack at a really good player in Wednesday’s draft. And while the Durant trade seems short on quantity and quality, you can also find plenty of irate Rockets’ fans screaming at their ownership. Which means the Suns didn’t embarrass themselves.
As for the loss of a Hall of Fame player: the Suns discovered the idea of Kevin Durant was much better than the reality of Kevin Durant. Basketball historians will forever wonder how Booker and Durant were showcase pieces on a team that went 36-46 after serving as two of the USA’s top six players on an Olympic team that won gold in Paris.
Alas, the Suns left Durant and Booker without a fearless peer leader, effectively sabotaging the previous two head coaches. There is no replacing Durant’s elite shot making and how effortlessly he gave the team 27 points a game. But there will be addition by subtraction when it comes to the intangibles, and hopefully a relaunching of Booker toward legendary status.
The KD era is over. Now the real heavy lifting begins.
Reach Bickley at dbickley@arizonasports.com. Listen to Bickley & Marotta mornings from 6 a.m. – 10 a.m. on Arizona Sports.
Follow @danbickley
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