What Kevin Durant trade to Rockets means for Celtics offseason options

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4 days ago

The Kevin Durant trade saga has come to a halt Sunday with yet another star staying put in the Western Conference. The Phoenix Suns are trading Durant to the Houston Rockets in exchange for Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, the 10th pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, and five second-round picks according to Shams Charania of ESPN.com. The second round draft picks will include the No. 59 pick this year, two picks in 2026, a Celtics pick in 2030 and Houston's pick in 2032, according to John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7.
The trade will not become official until next season (July 6) due to a poison pill provision in Green's rookie extension. Green is signed for the next three years with his extension starting with a $33 million salary. Durant ($54.1 million) is entering the final year of his contract but is expected to sign a new deal with Houston once the deal becomes official, per ESPN.
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With one of the biggest dominoes of the NBA offseason now on the move, what does the Durant trade mean for the Celtics as their offseason gets going. Let's take a look at the potential impact of the move from a short and long-term perspective.
Durant stays out of East
The other finalist in the Durant trade derby was reportedly the Miami Heat, but they were unwilling to match the Suns' asking price to land an aging star in Durant. Instead, the long-time All-Star heads to an emerging Rockets team to play under former Celtics coach Ime Udoka. This is probably close to a best-case scenario from a Celtics perspective, since the Rockets aren't a juggernaut even with Durant aboard and have a ton of tough competition throughout the Western Conference. When Jayson Tatum is back healthy in 2026-27 for the Celtics, there won't be another star waiting for him in the East in Durant to get through, which will help keep the conference wide open for the foreseeable future.
A couple potential trade landing routes close
Zach Lowe of The Ringer floated the possibility of Jrue Holiday getting involved in a three-team Durant trade last week (with Durant heading to a third team, not Boston). For now, this Durant swap is just including the Rockets and Suns, although the door is open for other teams to get involved hypothetically before it becomes official next month. For now, it does not look like the Rockets will be a suitor for Jrue Holiday (under the assumption Fred VanVleet is returning on a new deal). Meanwhile, Porzingis could be a player to watch potentially for Phoenix since they still need some help in the frontcourt after only landing Brooks and Green in this deal. They are still a second apron team currently however, so no deal is possible there with Boston until they dump some other salary and get under the second apron themselves. That could happen as soon as this week at the NBA Draft.
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Business is about to pick up
With no real buzz of late about Giannis Antetokounmpo being on the trade market, Durant is a big domino many teams were waiting to watch fall this offseason. With the 36-year-old now on the move, plenty of secondary business will now start taking place around the league leading into the draft, since potential Durant suitors no longer will be bidding on him. How much this helps the Celtics remains to be seen, but they should have a better sense of what suitors there are for select players (Porzingis, Holiday, Hauser) at certain price points with the Durant variable out of the mix. Ultimately, the Celtics will start to make some painful moves to trim salary from their roster this week, and the Durant trade should help to get things moving along.
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Read the original article on MassLive.