Kevin Durant was traded to the Houston Rockets on Sunday, and there was another team that was a finalist for him.
The Miami Heat also negotiated with the Phoenix Suns for Durant and were the other finalist for the former NBA MVP, according to Shams Charania. The Rockets won the bidding for Durant by trading Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, the No. 10 draft pick this year and five second-round picks to Phoenix for KD.
We don’t know the details of the Heat’s offer, but they reportedly would not include Jaime Jaquez Jr., Nikola Jovic, Haywood Highsmith or the No. 20 pick in a trade.
The Suns trading Durant is no surprise. It was an expected outcome after Phoenix disappointed this season with a 36-46 record and failed to qualify for the playoffs. He was traded to the Suns in 2023 and played two and a half seasons with them, but the team never had the success it had envisioned. Even the addition of Bradley Beal to give it a “big three” with Devin Booker didn’t work out. So now Durant is headed to the Rockets, which finished second in the West this season.
The Heat were in a similar spot to the Suns and finished 37-45 to miss the postseason. Their season went sideways, and they dealt Jimmy Butler to the Warriors midseason. They were looking to add another big-time player to help fill the void left by the Butler trade but had no such luck.
Durant is under contract for the upcoming season at $54.7M. He will be a free agent after that. Houston is hoping he will propel it to the top of the West.
