The Kevin Durant trade to Houston sees seven teams involved in the record-setting deal
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The deal got approved by the NBA on Sunday as part of a seven-team transaction, one in which a slew of other trade agreements got folded into one massive package.
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'Kevin impacts the game on both ends of the court and is one of the most efficient scorers in the history of basketball,' Rockets general manager Rafael Stone said. 'We liked the growth our team showed last season and believe Kevin's skill set will integrate seamlessly.'
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Involved in the deal: Phoenix, Houston, Atlanta, Minnesota, Golden State, Brooklyn and the Los Angeles Lakers. It includes a total of 13 players — the headline moves include Durant going to Houston from Phoenix, the Rockets sending Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks to the Suns, and the Rockets acquiring Clint Capela from the Hawks.
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The seven-team involvement in the Durant trade tops the previous record, a six-team transaction last summer that most notably sent Klay Thompson to the Dallas Mavericks. Golden State _ Thompson's former team — obviously was another part of that trade, as were Charlotte, Minnesota, Philadelphia and Denver on varying levels.
'One of the greatest to ever play the game, we are grateful for the impact Kevin made on our organization and in our community,' Phoenix general manager Brian Gregory said of Durant. 'As a member of the Suns, he climbed the scoring charts to become just the eighth player in NBA history to score 30,000 career points, and we wish him the best as he continues his career in Houston.'
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There will be at least five second-round draft picks in the deal before all terms are satisfied, the potential for another second-round pick swap and the Hawks and Timberwolves both had to receive some cash considerations to make all the math work. And some of those draft picks won't actually be made until 2032, which raises the serious possibility that some players who will go down in history as being part of the trade haven't reached high school yet.
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Durant averaged 26.6 points last season, his 17th in the NBA _ not counting one year missed because of injury. For his career, the 6-foot-11 forward is averaging 27.2 points and seven rebounds per game.
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The move brings Durant back to the state of Texas, where he played his only year of college basketball for the Longhorns and was the college player of the year before going as the No. 2 pick in the 2007 draft by Seattle.
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Houston becomes his fifth franchise, joining the SuperSonics (who then became the Oklahoma City Thunder), Golden State, Brooklyn and Phoenix. Durant won his two titles with the Warriors in 2017 and 2018, and last summer in Paris he became the highest-scoring player in U.S. Olympic basketball history and the first men's player to be part of four gold-medal teams.
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