Fred Katz of The Athletic and New York Times broke a big one late Wednesday night: the Houston Rockets and Phoenix Suns plan on expanding their trade around Kevin Durant to include a total of seven teams including the Brooklyn Nets. However, remain calm. By all accounts, the deal is more a consolidation of a number of previously reported deals.
League sources tell The Athletic that the Rockets and Suns are working on expanding the Kevin Durant trade into a deal that would involve a league-record seven teams. Other teams involved in negotiations at the moment include the Atlanta Hawks, Brooklyn Nets, Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Lakers and Minnesota Timberwolves, league sources say.
No trade is imminent, and details are being ironed out as of Wednesday night.
According to Katz, the planned deal is a massive housekeeping maneuver to satisfy a number of the teams cap needs, mostly consolidating moves already agreed to in free agency but which can’t be completed till Saturday under league rules.
For the Nets, that would presumably mean the inclusion of last Tuesday’s three-team deal centered on the Hawks acquisition of Kristaps Porzingis. In that trade, Brooklyn acquired the No. 22 pick in the 2025 which became Drake Powell and Terance Mann. the 6’6” wing, from Atlanta, essentially for nothing more than the use of $17 million in cap space.
As Brian Lewis wrote after midnight....
One would presume the Terance Mann deal with the #Hawks could be part of this. Brooklyn may be rerouting or possibly even absorbing a small contract or two. The #Nets would be a conduit for players/trade exceptions, picking off assets around the margins. https://t.co/Rz6Pw9NMGk
— Brian Lewis (@NYPost_Lewis) July 3, 2025
The deal as reported could not have been complete. League rules would require the Nets to include something of value in the trade, perhaps a draft stash of which Brooklyn has four, a small amount of cash considerations or even a G League contract. G League contracts can be traded but do not count against the cap.
So far in free agency, Brooklyn has used $35 million in cap space to acquire two first round picks, the No. 22 pick in the 2025 Draft and a future unprotected Nuggets first in 2032. They also added Mann and Michael Porter Jr. in exchange for Cam Johnson. According to Bobby Marks and Yossi Gozlan of Capsheets.org, the team retains at least another $17 million in cap space.