Houston Rockets All-Star Kevin Durant reflected on his exit from the Phoenix Suns, including the lack of communication ahead of last year's trade deadline. Durant's trade to the Rockets made them contenders ahead of the 2025-26 campaign. However, Kevin was hurt by how things went down with the Suns.
When Durant found out he was on the market, he figured he'd built a strong connection with the Suns front office for them to inform him personally. Then, Durant was reminded of the business side of the NBA, he said, per CNBC.
“I would say around February, the Suns had pretty much let the league know that I was on the market,” Durant said. “Initially, I was a little upset because I felt like we built a solid relationship, me and the Phoenix Suns. And to hear that from a different party was kind of upsetting. But that's just the name of the game. So, I got over that quickly and was trying to figure out what the next steps were.”
Durant's agent, Rich Kleiman, revealed his client wasn't ready to switch teams mid-season, which led to Durant staying put ahead of what many anticipated to be a very busy offseason for the Suns.
“I heard Golden State was in the mix around the trade deadline. That's when Rich came into play, and those relationships that we built around the league. And also, playing in Golden State helped,” Durant added. “So, he was able to tell them that. To hold off on that. Since me being on the market in February, when there's also a trade deadline, people were kind of just seeing how their seasons played out, and what they needed for their teams.
“We knew we would revisit that right around the summertime, and Houston kind of jumped on it. And it happened pretty fast from there,” Durant concluded.
Rafael Stone's admission about Rockets' trade for Kevin Durant
Rockets GM Rafael Stone had many conversations with the Suns over trading for Kevin Durant, but when the deal was finally completed, he wasn't even excited. He was exhausted. Stone revealed he didn't even celebrate the deal after landing Durant, he said, per ESPN Houston.
“I definitely didn’t celebrate. It was long. Like, we understood what they wanted to get for Kevin, and it just didn’t make sense for our team — starting, I don’t know, a year ago,” Stone said. “So, there were all these conversations, and it was a very, very long process. I think from my perspective — obviously, we did the trade. We're really happy with it.”
Stone also shared that it wasn't easy for the Rockets to let Dillon Brooks and Jalen Green go.
