The NBA offseason is already off to an incredible start. Five days ago, news broke that Kevin Durant had been traded from the Phoenix Suns to the Houston Rockets, a blockbuster move that brings the 15-time All-Star to a team that finished the 2024-2025 campaign No. 2 in the Western Conference Standings.
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In return, the Suns got several draft picks, Dillon Brooks, and Jalen Green, who played a crucial role in Houston’s resurgence over the last year. Some were wondering whether the Rockets’ adding a 35-year-old Durant and losing out on the 23-year-old was the answer to their issues. Former NBA star Jeff Teague is not one of those people.
Teague joined Rich Eisen to speak about all the goings-on in the NBA, including his thoughts on Durant getting dealt out of Phoenix. He admitted that he not only liked the trade but thought that KD filled a crucial spot that Green was not fulfilling.
“I love them getting Durant. I think Jalen Green is going to be a really good player in the NBA, but when you can move him and get Kevin Durant, a full-blown star who is a basketball head, and I think KD has four-five good years left in him,” said the 2021 Champion.
Teague continued, using Durant’s incredible shooting statistics as a core reason he thinks the 15-time All-Star will not fade away into obscurity. “Most of his shots that he shoot are jump shots, and to shoot 50-40-90 from the field, and you shoot mainly jump shots, I think you’re gonna be fine for the next four-five years.”
More importantly, Teague broke down what KD has been doing so well over his entire career, and that’s closing games when his team needs him the most.
“He’s a capable closer. We know that he can close. He’s gonna make big shots. He’s gonna get 26-27 points a game,” he stated. “That’s all the Rockets were missing down the stretch. A closer, and that’s what they got in Kevin Durant.”
While moving out a future star in Green for a fading star like Durant might seem like bad news in the long run, it’s hard to disagree with Teague. The Suns were non-competitive with Durant on their squad, but they were certainly not losing games because of him. KD dropped 26.6 PPG last year, and as Teague mentioned, shot incredibly accurately throughout that run.
The Rockets were taken out by a No. 7-ranked Warriors squad in the opening round, and lost several of those games in the final stretch. If they had Durant to close out in those situations? They might have at least survived to the next round.
As always, the Durant trade won’t really be able to be assessed until the season is underway. But with a squad that now includes KD, Fred VanVleet, Tari Eason, and Amen Thompson, the Rockets could very well make the second seed again next season.
