The Phoenix Suns made a massive move on Sunday as they finally moved on from Kevin Durant after months of trade rumors and speculation.
According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, the Suns are sending Durant to the Houston Rockets for Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, the No. 10 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft and five second-round picks.
This is a massive move by the Suns as they officially begin their rebuild by trading away Durant to the Rockets for key assets.
Of course, this trade has been coming for a while now and it was a matter of which team the future Hall of Famer would end up on and it ended up being one of his preferred destinations in the Rockets.
Kevin Durant
Mar 12, 2025; Houston, Texas, USA; Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant (35) controls the ball as Houston Rockets forward Dillon Brooks (9) defends during the third quarter at Toyota Center.
© Troy Taormina-Imagn Images
One team that failed to land Durant despite being another of his preferred destinations is the Miami Heat and it was revealed why they came up short in the sweepstakes for the star forward on Sunday.
According to Charania, the Heat refused to include Jaime Jacquez Jr., Nikola Jovic, Haywood Highsmith and the 20th overall pick in the 2025 draft in trade talks for Durant.
ClutchPoints’ Brett Siegel also reported that Miami was unwilling to include Kel’el Ware in trade talks and that the Heat’s best offer included Andrew Wiggins and the 20th overall pick.
While these two reports somewhat contradict each other due to the 2025 draft pick, it is clear that the Heat were not willing to give up enough in trade talks that would satisfy the Suns’ asking price for Durant.
This is a surprising move by Miami, especially with them in desperate need of adding another superstar this summer next to Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo if they want to be contender next season.
Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo dribbles the ball in a game against the Memphis Grizzlies at Kaseya Center.
Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo dribbles the ball in a game against the Memphis Grizzlies at Kaseya Center.
Sam Navarro-Imagn Images
Because of this, Miami will now have to look elsewhere on the trade market with Sacramento Kings’ star DeMar DeRozan continuing to be linked to them while Phoenix also has more moves to make as they officially begin their rebuild.